Kyuubi no Cabbit
by Jonakhensu
Summary: This is NOT a Narutochan fic, it is a genderchanging Naruto fic. Yes, there IS a difference. What would happen if the Kyuubi wasn't a fox? What if it was a cabbit? Now we can finally find out. The fun begins early and keeps on coming.
1. Meeting your inner demons

Kyuubi no Cabbit

Chapter 1: Meeting your inner demon

Hello, this is just a note saying that neither Naruto nor Tenchi Muyo belong to me. I think that this idea is original, or rather, I don't remember seeing it before. Anyways, please review. While it will not effect my continuation of this story (the second chapter is already started), it is always nice to know that I'm appreciated. As a quick note, this is a highly re-edited version of the original chapter, including a key plot point or two. This is being done in an effort to not accidentally make another Deusexmachingan… I mean Sharingan.

And now I'm editing the thing for persistent spelling mistakes and enhancing some of the logic I've been using but haven't adequately expressed.

Thank you, deitarion/SSokolow for being my beta reader.

* * *

In the Hokage's office, the Jounin instructors were meeting to determine who would have the pleasure of torture, er, training (yes, training…) which of the new Genin. While these proceedings were usually very straight forward, recent events had made this year the exception. All of this confusion was caused by one Academy student's desire to become a ninja. One Uzumaki Naruto had quickly become the bane of the team selection crew by technically being dead last in the class, while proceeding to learn a Jounin level kinjutsu, without help, and taking down a Chunnin, all in less than twenty-four hours. 

"It is obvious that Uzumaki has far more potential than we ever gave him credit for," started a red-eyed, brown haired kunoichi by the name of Yuuhi Kurenai. "If he could teach himself Kage Bunshin no Jutsu in less than one night, imagine what he could do with the right instructor. I believe that Kakashi is not the correct instructor for Naruto. Hokage-sama, I humbly request that I be allowed to train Naruto."

Hatake Kakashi, a silver haired man wearing his forehead protector over his left eye replied, "His test scores put him on the same team as the Uchiha, and we all know that I am the only one capable of properly training him."

"That is exactly my point," argued Kurenai. "You are going to be too busy with that spoiled brat," here many of the other Jounin gasped at her insult towards the sole survivor of the once great clan, "to offer Naruto the attention he needs. Besides, I think his scores need to be reevaluated. Inuzuka Kiba scored only a little above Naruto initially, but, if you take into account what we now know, Naruto just squeezes past, and onto my team."

"Why do you want to have that trouble maker so much?" asked Sarutobi Asuma, a bearded chain smoker and son of the Sandaime Hokage. "He's just going to make you work harder than you would have to otherwise."

"That's another reason I should teach Naruto. You and Kakashi are too lazy to properly train the kid. Out of all the Jounin here, I think that I am probably the most likely to do as much as I can for my team. We all know that he has an abnormally large chakra reserve. He is going to need to learn chakra control before he'll be able to do anything else. Unlike almost every other Genin, he did not have the benefit of a family to train him during his time in the Academy."

"I still think he should be on Kakashi's team," one of the other Jounin stressed. "We need someone who might be able to stop him if he goes berserk to watch over him."

"I think that the fact that he stole the Scroll of Sealing to learn a single technique, because he was told he would pass by doing so, rather than releasing the seal speaks well of his character," Kurenai insisted.

"No," another antagonistic Jounin refuted, "it just shows how gullible he is."

"He listened to his teacher, like a good student is supposed to," Kurenai started. "Just because one of his teachers was untrustworthy doesn't mean that he shouldn't be trusted." Several of the Jounin shifted uneasily at this point, wanting to mention a certain other student ostracized because of her teacher but refraining because the Hokage was present. "I would rather have a student that is willing to trust me than have a student who would question every method I use or every decision I make. Besides, if Naruto can't be trusted because of who his teacher was, then none of the graduates can be trusted. They all had the same teacher, after all."

"You bring up many excellent points, Kurenai," the elderly Hokage conceded. "Very well, Naruto will be on your team. Is there anything else that needs discussion?" Several of the Jounin broke into grumbles but kept their comments to themselves. They knew better than to question the Hokage's decisions when the concerned the demon brat, at least not to his face. Soon after, the meeting ended and the Jounin either walked or poofed away.

* * *

In his apartment in what could only be considered the slums, a blond, whisker-marked, new Academy Graduate was thinking about what he had just learned, against his, and the Hokage's wishes. Naruto had just learned that he had the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon that had nearly destroyed Konoha years ago, sealed within him. For a while, he had thought that he was the monster and not just its container, but Iruka-sensei had set him straight. Oddly enough, every time he thought about the demon fox, he felt a twinge in his head and could swear he heard a soft, plaintive "Miya." 

"Gah! What was that? Great, now I'm hearing things. I need to think about this more." Deciding that he had nothing better to do with his time, and needing to sort out his feeling, Naruto tried to meditate. Of course, meditation usually works better when it does not involve slamming one's head into a wall, repeatedly, as hard as possible without damaging said wall. Soon the vast number of near concussions caught up to Naruto and he fell to the ground unconscious. The slight dent in the wall was hardly noticeable.

When Naruto looked around, he saw that he was inside what appeared to be the sewer. About four inches of dirty water covered the floor, causing Naruto to scrunch up his nose in disgust. From down the main corridor, the blond heard an urgent, nearly frantic, **"Miya!"**

"Where the hell am I?" Naruto wondered aloud. Hearing the strange sound again, Naruto decided, "Well, I'm here; I might as well go see what that was." He walked down the passageway until he came upon what appeared to be a large iron gate. Two giant, glowing red eyes stared back as Naruto stared in awe, wonder, and a healthy amount of fear. "Where am I? What is that thing?" Naruto thought, accidentally aloud.

**"We are in your mind, brat,"**the creature in possession of the glowing eyes answered. Naruto noticed the single piece of paper over the lock of the gate, with the kanji for seal.

Everything clicked into place in Naruto's mind. The door, the eyes, and the seal could only mean one thing. "You're the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Naruto exclaimed, stumbling back in fear.

The creature just roared in laugher and stepped into the light, saying, "**The Kyuubi no Kitsune never attacked this village. I killed the Kitsune almost a millennium ago, before I even became a Bijuu."**

"Then what are you?" Naruto questioned. "And how did you kill the Kyuubi no Kitsune? And how did you become a Bijuu?"

**"I am the Kyuubi no Cabbit. After my egg fell to this planet around a millennium ago, the Kitsune attacked the village where I was being cared for. I was not personally involved with the battle until the young girl who had cared for me was killed. In my rage, I used my full power and destroyed the Kitsune. Unfortunately, I also destroyed the village."** The Kyuubi no Cabbit looked down sadly as he continued his tale. **"A natural cabbit can defeat a lesser demon without too much difficulty, and, if enraged, one can destroy an entire civilization. After the battle, I wanted to make sure that the Kyuubi no Kitsune could not come back and harm anyone else, so I merged with it, gaining its powers and attributes. It is a good thing I waited until after I had defeated the beast, or I would have been affected by its personality much more than I have."**

"Then why did the Fourth seal you into me?" Naruto asked. If the demon wasn't evil, then why did it need to be sealed?

**"That****s actually a rather funny story,"** the Kyuubi replied. **"Cabbits love carrots. We can't get enough of the things. Anyways, I was hungry and the closest carrot patch was on the other side of this village. The villagers must have mistaken my hunger for killing intent and bloodlust and thought I was attacking. They fought back, trying to protect the village from harm. Everything escalated when I tried to defend myself. It was then that I suddenly looked over to see a giant frog coming out of nowhere, there was a bright light from its head, and next thing I know I'm stuck in you. It took me ten years to figure out that I had been sealed into you at the cost of the Fourth Hokage's life."**

"Then why do all of the villagers and ninja think you're a fox?" inquired the blond.

**"If you remember one thing, remember this: no matter how smart a group is as individuals, people are stupid,"** the cabbit said sagely. **"They looked up the legend of the Kyuubi and only found record of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Thus, they decided that, even though I look nothing like a fox, I must be one."**

"So, now what?" Naruto asked absently.

**"Well, because I am sealed in you, if you die, I will die. Therefore, I am willing provide you chakra whenever you really need it and will heal you must faster than I have been; unless I feel you deserve the pain. I will not allow you to use me to show off. Besides, you need to learn much better chakra control so my chakra won't burn you out. In order for you to be able to ask for chakra without being in a near death experience or unconscious, I would like to set up a mental link so we can communicate at any time,"** the Kyuubi explained.

"What would you get out of this?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "Are you trying to take over my body or anything?"

**"All I would get out of this arrangement, other than constant company, is the ability to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel everything you do, unless you purposely block me. I would also be able to take control of your body if you lose consciousness, not including natural or medical sleep, until you would naturally regain consciousness. This is more of a defensive measure than anything, because I don't want you killed if you pass out in the middle of a battle. You would also be able to give me control of your vocal cords if I am ever needed to speak to others to explain anything. Do you agree?"**

"But why are you being so nice? You must have an ulterior motive," Naruto insisted, showing that he had once gotten really bored while stuck in bed with nothing but a dictionary for company.

**"Alright, the truth is that I'm going carrot crazy,"** the Kyuubi admitted. **"I feel like I'll go insane if I don't get to taste any soon. That; and I'm male with normal male urges. Now that I'm stuck in you, you're my only hope at getting anything even slightly resembling little cabbits. Also, being stuck in a cage without even a book to read gets boring extremely quickly. At least I can have some fun messing with you."**

"Sure! What do I have to do?" Naruto readily agreed without thinking about any other potential drawbacks to this plan and not understanding the implications of some of what the Kyuubi said.

**"I need you to come up to the cage so I can look you directly in the eye and form the link."**

Naruto cautiously walked up to the cage to stare into the Kyuubi's eyes. When he finally got his first good look at the Kyuubi, he fell over laughing, pointing at the cabbit and shouting, "Usagi!"

**"I am not a rabbit, damn it!"** the Kyuubi growled, before initiating the process that would irrevocably link their minds.

"So, now that we are linked and all, what should I call you? I can't really call you Kyuubi all the time. People would probably think I'm either going insane or about to destroy the village."

_**"You can speak to me mentally; you don't need to actually talk. However, the name I have taken for myself is Kyu-Ohki. Now that that's done, it's time to get your ass moving so you can get your registration picture taken."**_

Finding himself suddenly back in his apartment, Naruto looked at his clock. "Crap! I only have a few hours before my appointment!" he exclaimed. "I need to get ready!"

He reached towards his face paint kit when a growl stopped him, _**"Don't even think about it. I will not have my container look like a complete fool."**_

"But it was going to be great!" Naruto whined.

_**"I know you want to be acknowledged, but being known for being an idiot is not the way to go,"**_ Kyu-Ohki calmly explained. _**"The small oval gem on your forehead will be hard enough to explain without adding to it."**_

"What gem?" Naruto looked in the mirror, and, sure enough, there was a small red gem in the center of his forehead. "Where did this come from?"

_**"The gem is a side effect of using some of my Masu to allow your body to better handle my chakra,"**_ Kyu-Ohki explained. _**"Unless you'd rather burn out your chakra coils the first time you use **__**it**__**."**_

Mollified for the moment, Naruto cooked his morning ramen. "Why does ramen take so long to cook?" Naruto asked, saddened by the three minute wait.

_**"Couldn't tell you, kid. What I do know is that you are going to be eating more than just ramen from now on."**_ Kyu-Ohki paused for a moment as Naruto screamed in anguish before continuing, _**"You're skin and bones, kid. You need to eat better. Ramen may be cheap, but it doesn't have the nutrients you'll need to grow stronger. Speaking of which, you will also need to get some weights to train with."**_ Naruto finished eating his ramen in silence before leaving to have his picture taken.

* * *

After having his picture taken, Naruto brought his registration papers to the Ninja Academy to turn in to the Hokage. When the old man looked at the papers, he blinked and commented, "I'm impressed, Naruto. I expected you to have painted your face in some absurd pattern or some such nonsense." 

_**"See, I told you the paint was a stupid idea,"**_ interjected Kyu-Ohki.

"Shut up, Usagi," Naruto muttered under his breath, unfortunately still loud enough for the Hokage to hear.

_**"Stop calling me a rabbit! And talk to me IN your mind! The Hokage heard you."**_

"Are you calling me a rabbit, Naruto?" questioned the Hokage with a raised eyebrow.

_"Oi! Kyu-Ohki, what should I tell the old man?"_ Naruto silently asked franticly.

_**"The Hokage and Umino Iruka are the only two I trust at the moment. You can tell them the truth, but you must not do so unless you are in a properly secured area, like the Hokage's office."**_

"Old Man," Naruto began, "I'll explain everything to you and Iruka-sensei later, in your office. It concerns an S-class secret." Naruto only hoped that the Hokage understood the reference to his tenet and would wait before asking any potentially awkward questions.

Before the Hokage was even able to reply, the door was slammed open and a young boy of about six years old, wielding a shuriken, ran into the room, shouting, "Fight me, Old Man! The title of Hokage will belong to me, Konohamaru!" Unfortunately, his attack was doomed to failure and he tripped over his own scarf. He immediately groaned in pain and asked, "What was that? A trap?"

Following him into the room was his private tutor. The bespectacled special Jounin quickly looked around the room and cried, "Honorable grandson, are you alright? Also, there are no traps here." When he saw Naruto, he thought, _'It's that kid. The Kyuubi no Kitsune. The dropout I hate the most.'_ He hid his glare at Naruto by adjusting his glasses.

Konohamaru looked at Naruto and claimed, "You! You must have done something. I'm the Hokage's grandson; you have to apologize to me!"

Naruto picked the boy up by his shirt and exclaimed, "I don't care if you're the Hokage's grandmother!" He then hit Konohamaru on the head, dazing him slightly. The instructor looked on in shock and rage while the Hokage looked slightly upset yet slightly happy, as if knowing that everything would work out for his grandson's benefit, or at least hoped it would.

When the boy regained his senses, he looked up at Naruto with admiration, and said, "You're strong! I want you to teach me how to be strong like you!" Now the Hokage was almost beaming at the pair while the instructor was appalled.

"Naruto, Konohamaru, you are dismissed," the Hokage stated. "Ebisu, please stay for a minute."

"Come on, Naruto," cried Konohamaru, having picked up the name from the Hokage. He dragged Naruto out of the room while Ebisu looked on, angry that the demon brat was being allowed to corrupt the Hokage's grandson.

"What do you think about young Naruto, Ebisu?" the Hokage asked, already suspecting the truth and merely stalling so Naruto and Konohamaru could escape for the time being.

"I feel that the dropout should not be allowed to corrupt the minds of our youth," Ebisu growled. "And I would appreciate it if you would allow me to save my charge."

"Did you know that Naruto was able to not only steal the Scroll of Sealing, but also learned Kage Bunshin no Jutsu in one night? Would you call that dropout material?" the Hokage asked, wanting to waste some more time and to see Ebisu's reaction to this little tidbit of information.

"But the fox can't even pull off a basic bunshin!" Ebisu exclaimed before he could catch himself.

"Naruto is not the Kyuubi. You know that as well as I," began the Hokage. "As for not being able to perform a bunshin while easily using kage bunshin, it is rather simple. Naruto has an abnormally large chakra reserve for his age, and he has had no one to teach him proper chakra control. I already suspect that his henge is far more powerful than most Chunnin can manage, simply because he is not aware of what its limits are. With normal clones, however, too much chakra will over load them, causing them to be deformed. Since kage bunshin use so much more chakra, he cannot overload them. Once he learns the proper chakra control, he should be able to perform what most of us consider the easiest jutsu."

"Hokage-sama, I believe you have too much faith in that brat," Ebisu stated. "Now, may I be dismissed so I can continue your grandson's education?" At the Hokage's nod, Ebisu would have sprinted from the room if he was not trying to keep hold on his dissipating air of dignity. Once he made it out of the building, he made his way to the top of the Hokage's tower so it would be easier to spot Naruto and Konohamaru. Spotting the two, Ebisu jumped into the air, disappearing from sight five feet off the roof.

* * *

After Konohamaru pulled Naruto out of the Academy, he convinced Naruto to teach him a jutsu to beat his grandfather. Of course, Naruto chose his Sexy no Jutsu. Thus, they were wondering around looking for practice material. Naruto pointed out a pretty young woman in a blue kimono and said, "Can you henge into her?" 

Konohamaru nodded and used henge. When the smoke cleared, there stood an ugly, obese version of the woman wearing a blue kimono. "How's this?" he asked.

"Well, the clothes are right," Naruto replied hesitantly.

Unfortunately, the woman took offense to being, in any way, compared to the younger boy's henge. After beating Naruto into the ground, she turned to Konohamaru, now back in his normal shape, and, with a smile, said, "Next time, try to do cuter henge of me, okay?" Konohamaru could only nod in shock, not really hearing what she had said.

_**"Wow, and I thought you usually had to actually do something to get hurt,"**_ Kyu-Ohki commented. _**"Because I don't think you deserved that beating, I'll get you healed right up. You should be back to normal within ten minutes."**_

_"Thanks, Kyu-Ohki."_ Naruto got back up and led Konohamaru to their next research spot, a book store. "Come on, all we need to do is sneak past the clerk, and we'll be set," Naruto instructed, sneaking in a rather obvious manner. When they reached the magazine racks, Naruto selected an adult one and opened it. He and Konohamaru drooled over the nearly indecent pictures until a shadow fell over them.

"I told you that there is no browsing in the store, Naruto!" the shop keeper exclaimed before giving Naruto a black eye.

After escaping from the deranged shop keeper, the apparently masochistic blond led Konohamaru to the women's bathhouse. "This is the last place! Let's put our spirit into it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Roger boss!" was Konohamaru's reply. Both boys used henge to turn into girls. Naruto became a cute blond with twin pigtails, and Konohamaru became a rather overweight fish lipped female with only one patch of hair on the top of her head. The two boys disguised as girls entered the bathhouse.

Much screaming followed immediately. One old lady shouted, "Naruto! You again?!" After much violence, Naruto exited the building. While Konohamaru was completely unharmed, Naruto had been beaten into a pulp.

As Naruto led his student into the forest to finish his training, Kyu-Ohki chose to comment, _**"Don't expect me to help you heal any faster than normal this time. You deserved that beating."**_

When they reached the clearing in the forest they planned on training in, where they would likely remain undisturbed for some time, Naruto grumbled, "Why am I the only one getting pounded?"

"I'm sorry," started Konohamaru. "It's because I'm the grandson of a Hokage."

"Don't worry about it. The preparation for the Sexy no Jutsu is complete. All you need to do is practice. Okay, the basics are big breasts, thin waist, and big bottoms."

"Roger, Boss!" exclaimed Konohamaru. "Henge!" He became a fat girl in a bikini.

"No! Do it more slender!"

"Roger, Boss! Henge!" He became a thin, though rather ugly, girl.

"No, more beautiful."

"Roger, boss! Henge!" He became a rather beautiful girl. "Is this it?"

"That's a great start. Let's take a break." The two boys got drinks from a vending machine and sat down on a log to rest. Naruto finally took the opportunity to ask, "By the way, why are you so obsessed with the old man Hokage?"

Looking down sadly, Konohamaru answered, "Grandpa gave me the name Konohamaru. He took it from the name of this village. But even though it is a name everyone should have heard many times, no one calls me by that name. Whenever anyone sees or calls me, they only see the grandson of a Hokage. No one recognizes me as an individual. I hate that. So I want the title of Hokage right now. Then they would have to recognize me!"

"You're an idiot. Who would recognize a kid like you? You're just a spoiled brat. A Hokage needs to be strong and hard working. There are no shortcuts in training. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either stupid or trying to make you weaker in the long run."

Ebisu took that moment to arrive, saying, "Honorable grandson, do not listen to him. He failed the Genin exam three times and only passed on a technicality. He knows nothing of being Hokage. I, on the other hand, have trained many Hokage candidates!"

"And how many of those candidates have made Hokage?" Naruto interrupted, pointing out a very valid argument.

"I hardly see how that is relevant. Now, come along, young master."

"No!" Konohamaru shouted. "Naruto is a better teacher than you have ever been! Henge!" He transformed into a tall, sexy brunette, wearing nothing but conveniently placed wisps of smoke.

"What an obscene technique!" the bespectacled bastard of a teacher declared. "Only a deviant like Naruto would come up with something like that! It may work on lesser men, but I will not be affected by such temptation!"

"Oh yeah?" shot back Naruto. "Take this! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Nearly a hundred copies of Naruto filled the clearing.

"I'm a Special Jounin! Even with that many shadow clones, you still can't defeat me!"

"Just watch!" shouted all of the Naruto. "Henge!" Smoke billowed out of the clearing from all of the transformations. When the smoke cleared, each clone was in the classic Sexy no Jutsu. They dog-piled Ebisu and started to rub against him, moaning. Finally, the pressure was too much for him to take, and he flew backwards from the force of his nosebleed. All of the extra Naruto were dispelled and the original stated, "And that is my Harem no Jutsu!"

"Thank you for all of your help, Naruto!" Konohamaru said enthusiastically.

Naruto started to walk back towards the village before turning around and saying, "No problem, Konohamaru." With that, Naruto left the clearing with a backwards wave.

* * *

Later that evening, Naruto was outside the Hokage's office waiting for Iruka-sensei to arrive so that he could explain what had happened with Kyu-Ohki. He was sitting on the far side of the room from the Chunnin guards because they were glaring hatefully at him. Instead he chatted idly with Sandaime's secretary, who had just started working in that capacity after the last one refused to admit Naruto solely because he was 'below the Hokage's notice,' something the Hokage had not appreciated. The new, much younger secretary, Saotome Hikari, was much more open-minded. While she knew about the Kyuubi, she could easily see that Naruto was not the monster so many thought he was. 

"So you managed to sneak into the scroll vault, steal the Scroll of Sealing, and get away from both the Jounin and ANBU?!" the secretary exclaimed after hearing Naruto's tale about finally becoming a Genin. "And then you learned a kinjutsu and defeated a Chunnin, all in one night? That is quite impressive. If you managed all of that, we need you as a ninja! You're perfect for infiltration." Privately, however, she was thinking, 'Though, you should lose the orange jumpsuit. It just screams "Come kill me!"'

"Thanks, Saotome-san," Naruto replied, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck.

"Please, call me Hikari, Naruto-kun. Saotome-san makes me sound old!"

"Hai, Hikari-neesan," Naruto instantly amended, deciding that the young secretary would be his sister from now on. The barely twenty year old secretary and single child was flattered to be considered anyone's sister, especially as she had not even really done anything to earn such a compliment. She immediately decided that Naruto would be her little brother. Not knowing the effects of his words, Naruto started another story, "And today I taught Konohamaru my Sexy no Jutsu to help him against the old man Hokage."

Now Hikari was suspicious. She had heard about this technique, and the effects it had on perverts. Thus, she asked, "How did you teach him that jutsu?"

Innocently enough, not really understanding why what he had done was wrong, Naruto answered truthfully, "First I had him try to henge into a pretty girl. He didn't do so well at that. Then I took him to a bookstore so he could get some inspiration. Finally, because we were kicked out of the store, we went into the women's bathhouse disguised as girls. They kicked us out, but Konohamaru had seen enough to work with to learn the jutsu with some practice."

While somewhat appalled that Naruto would peep at women, Hikari knew that he was not a pervert, rather he just did not understand the meaning of privacy and decency because he had never been taught properly. Thus, she decided to remedy this while sating her curiosity about his disguise, wondering who he had copied. "Can I see your disguise, Naruto-kun?"

"Sure, Hikari-neesan!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "Henge!" Out of the smoke appeared the pigtailed, female version of Naruto in his orange jump suit. "What do you think?"

"You make a very cute girl, Naruto-chan," Hikari laughed. "Now, I want you to understand, girls don't like it when boys look at them when they're bathing. They usually violently punish any boys they find peeping. Please don't do that again, okay? I don't want you to get hurt if you can avoid it." Naruto nodded and Hikari rubbed his head. Seeing that Iruka was approaching, the secretary continued, "Why don't you change back now, it's time for your meeting with the Hokage."

"Hai, Hikari-neesan. Kai!" Naruto said, to dispel his henge. Oddly, nothing happened. "Kai! Kai! Kai!" Naruto repeated frantically, trying to return to normal and failing each time. At that moment, Iruka arrived at the scene. "Iruka-sensei, something's wrong! I can't get rid of my henge!"

Iruka looked shocked, which is not that surprising, considering henge was one of Naruto's best techniques. "Are you sure that you're dispelling it correctly?"

"Of course I'm doing it correctly! I use henge all the time!" Naruto exclaimed. "Watch! Kai!"

When nothing happened, Iruka sighed and confessed, "I have no idea what could be wrong. Maybe the Hokage knows. He is called the 'professor' for a reason, you know."

"Speaking of which," Hikari interjected, "the Hokage will see you now. Naruto-kun, feel free to stop by and talk with me anytime you want. You are much more interesting to talk with than the guards."

"Hai, Hikari-neesan, I will. Thank you."

"Come on, let's go see the Hokage now, Naruto," Iruka said before mouthing the words 'Thank you' to Hikari over Naruto's head. He then led the currently female Naruto into the Hokage's office.

Looking over an exceedingly large stack of paperwork, the bane of all Kage, the Sandaime could only blink at Naruto's appearance before asking, "There is a good reason you decided to come to a serious meeting looking like that, correct?"

"Hai, old man," Naruto began. "I can't change back."

At this point, the Hokage was rather skeptical, as this could easily be a prank. "Could you try to dispel the henge again, please?" Naruto did so, failing once again. "Hmm, have you tried using another henge?" he suggested.

"That's a great idea, old man!" Naruto exclaimed. "Henge!" he cried, trying to return to his normal form. Instead, when the smoke cleared, he was completely the same as before.

"Hmm, that is odd. You seem to have done everything correctly. I'll have to think about this later. For now, let us discuss the matter you mentioned earlier today."

"Well," Naruto began, "to begin with, I've met the Kyuubi." Here he had to pause for Iruka's and the Hokage's outbursts. "He isn't even a fox, and he said that he wasn't even planning on attacking Konoha."

"What do mean it isn't a fox?" The Hokage asked. "There is only one Kyuubi, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and many of the villagers saw it attack and kill many of our shinobi."

"Well, he claims that he was hungry and wanted to get to our carrot patches, but everyone mistook his hunger for bloodlust. As for him not being a fox, you have seen actual foxes before, right?" Naruto asked. When both the Hokage and Iruka nodded, he continued, "Did the look anything like a rabbit?"

"Of course not," Iruka replied. "The two look nothing alike."

"Exactly," Naruto agreed. "Then why did you claim that the Kyuubi was a Kitsune? He is obviously a rabbit or something similar. He calls himself a cabbit."

"You've actually talked to the beast?" the Hokage demanded.

"Yes, I have," admitted the blond girl. "Would you like to? I can give him control of my vocal chords, if you want."

"No, that is not necessary. We wouldn't want to risk the beast getting free," the Hokage stated.

_**"Like that would happen."**_ Kyu-Ohki muttered within Naruto's mind.

"Actually, Kyu-Ohki can only take control of my body if I get knocked out or something."

"What!? How did that happen?" both the Hokage and Iruka exclaimed, as both had seen Naruto knocked unconscious in the past.

"Well, when I talked to him earlier, Kyu-Ohki suggested it, so I wouldn't be killed if I was knocked out in battle. He also did something to me so I could handle his chakra better. That's what caused the weird red thing to grow on my forehead."

"Naruto," the Sandaime began, "have you asked the Kyuubi if what he did would have any side effects that you didn't know about?"

"Hang on; I'll let him answer for himself."

**"Yes, there was a side effect I didn't mention to Naruto earlier. Mwahahaha!"** Kyu-Ohki said, in a deeper voice than Naruto's normal voice. He then laughed evilly, as if enjoying Naruto's discomfort.

"What did you do to him?" Iruka demanded.

**"Nothing that will harm him."** Kyu-Ohki began. **"He is just going to have some rather interesting abilities."**

"Does this have anything to do with why Naruto is stuck in his henge?" the Sandaime Hokage asked.

**"Yes, it is but the first of his new abilities, called Masu Henge no Jutsu. It will allow him, or her, as the case may be, to become, to he genetic level, whoever he disguises himself as, to the closest possible approximation. The only limits are bloodline limits, which I believe that he will be able to copy after ingesting a large amount of blood for me to analyze before they can be copied. It would require enough blood to make the process unpractical, however. No matter what, a few genetic markers will remain, but they will hardly be noticeable."**

"Does that mean I'm really a girl right now?" Naruto asked in a panic.

**"For the time being, yes, you are completely female. Also, you can no longer use a normal henge ****to assume humanoid forms****," **Kyu-Ohki explained. **"Naruto, you will have to increase your chakra control substantially before you will master the Masu Henge or even begin to learn your other abilities. Hokage, Naruto should also begin weight training; however, he has yet to find a shop that will not over charge him for sub-par equipment, let alone anything that would help him become stronger."**

"Is this true, Naruto?" the Hokage asked, appalled that so few villagers could see the truth.

"Well, there was this one weapon shop that used to help me a lot, but then the owners asked me to stay away, saying it was bad for business," Naruto replied. At that moment, what Kyu-Ohki said finally sunk in. "What do you mean I'm stuck as a girl?!"

**"You inadvertently used your new jutsu, but you don't have the control needed to use the technique purposely,"** Kyu-Ohki stated.

"See, it isn't so bad," Iruka said soothingly, trying to comfort the distraught neo-girl while completely forgetting his own hatred for the Kyuubi. "All you need to do is train a little more. If that's everything you needed to tell the Hokage, let's leave, and I'll buy you some ramen." This immediately lifted the young girl's spirits, but the Hokage stopped them.

"Naruto, I would like to perform a few simple tests in order to tell if your new abilities are a bloodline or if they will only work for you," the Hokage explained. "Can I perform these tests?"

"Sure, Old Man," Naruto consented. "What do I need to do?"

"I am going to need you to let me draw some of your blood. After that, the tests will take about half an hour to perform. I'd like you and Iruka to wait outside until I finish the testing."

"Sure thing, Old Man," Naruto replied, rolling up a sleeve. Sarutobi retrieved a needle attached to a vial and jabbed it into Naruto's upper arm after disinfecting the area. When the vial was filled with blood, he removed the needle and dismissed Naruto and Iruka for the moment.

When they reentered the atrium, Hikari greeted them, "So, Naruto-niichan, how was you're meeting with Hokage-sama?"

"It's not quite over yet, Hikari-neechan," Naruto admitted, sheepishly. "The Old Man is checking to see if I have an advanced bloodline." Hearing this, the two Chunnin guarding the Hokage's office turned white at the implications of that single sentence.

"Well, if you do have a kekkei genkai," Hikari started, "please don't let it go to your head, like most of the others do."

"Others?" Naruto asked innocently.

"The Hyuuga and the Uchiha are both well known for their doujutsu. The Hyuuga have the Byakugan and the Uchiha have the Sharingan. Both clans have a bit of a superiority complex."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "The only Hyuuga I know seems really nice, but she is a bit weird and shy."

"A shy Hyuuga?" Hikari asked incredulously. "I've never heard of such a thing!"

"Ah, yes," Iruka began. "Young Hyuuga Hinata does not seem to share the arrogance most of her clan displays."

"Well, I'm glad that there is at least one human being in the Hyuuga clan," the secretary stated firmly. The trio continued discussing bloodline traits for another twenty minutes. Looking down at her desk Hikari noticed the small blinking red light. "Hokage-sama is ready to see you now."

The two ninja entered the Hokage's office once again. "So, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"Congratulations," announced the old man, a slightly lecherous smile gracing lips. "You are the founder of a new kekkei genkai. I think that it should be called Masu, after that technique you used earlier, Masu Henge. You are free to go now." Smiling happily, Naruto dragged Iruka out of the tower and towards the ramen stand.

After they left, the Hokage shook his head and muttered, "Naruto, one of these days, you're going to give someone a heart attack."

"Hokage-sama," Hikari said as she walked into the office and closed the doors behind her. "I would like to adopt Naruto."

"I'm sorry, Hikari-san, but you know that Naruto cannot be adopted. It was all I could do just to keep him alive, and the Council forced me to make it so he could not be adopted, just to allow that much. If he could have been adopted, he'd have had a family years ago."

"I know," Hikari muttered dejectedly, "but I see him as the little brother I've always wanted, even if I've only just met him tonight."

"Hikari, you may not be able to adopt him, but that doesn't mean he can't be your brother," the Sandaime said soothingly. "Now that he is a shinobi, he has more freedom on where he can live. If you and he wish it to be so, there is no reason he cannot live with you."

"Oh, thank you, Hokage-sama!" the young woman exclaimed happily, hugging the older man.

"I'm just glad the Council overlooked that loophole in the law," the perverted Hokage muttered, enjoying the hug the woman was giving him.

* * *

After a short jog, Naruto and Iruka arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. It was more a stand than a restaurant, with one line of stools set up in front of the counter. When the owner, Ichiraku Teuchi, saw the two coming, he smiled and said, "Iruka-san, I wasn't aware you buy food for cute young women, is there something we need to tell the Hokage about?" 

"Who are you calling a woman, old man," Naruto came close to snarling.

"Naruto-kun, is that you?" Teuchi's daughter and assistant, Ayame, asked, surprised by the whiskered girl.

"Hai, Ayame-neechan. It's me," Naruto admitted.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Teuchi started. "I didn't recognize you. Why don't you drop the henge so you don't confuse anyone else?"

"I want to," Naruto grumbled. "Damn new bloodline limit."

Taking pity on the young blond, Ayame went around the bar to give Naruto a sisterly hug. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon"

"So, Naruto, what can I get you?" Teuchi asked. "The first one is on me."

"Could I try a carrot ramen and a miso ramen?" Naruto asked.

_**"Carrots… Yum."**_

"Carrots are a very unusual topping for ramen, but I'll see what I can do," said Teuchi as he entered the back of the stand so he could prepare the ramen. A few minutes later he came back out with the two bowls of ramen and set them down in front of Naruto, with a teasing, "Here you go, young lady."

Naruto glared at the man before saying, "Thank you for the ramen, but don't expect me to do anything for you, perverted old man." With that, she started to eat, starting with the carrot ramen

_**"Carrots, carrots, carrots,"**_ the demonic cabbit sang happily into Naruto's head. _**"I haven't tasted carrots in soo long!"**_

"This is pretty good," Naruto commented as she finished eating the first bowl. She then slurped down her miso ramen. "Thank you for the ramen, old man, Iruka-sensei. I should probably get going if I'm going to get up early enough tomorrow."

"Oh, Naruto," Iruka began, "You might want to come earlier than usual tomorrow. That way, even though people will probably wonder who you are, you won't cause too much of a scene. Then again, I suspect that a few will be able to figure it out on their own." After that final piece of advice and all of the farewells were exchanged, Naruto headed back to his apartment in the slums to get a good night's sleep.

* * *

Naruto got up earlier than usual the next morning, in order to follow Iruka's advice. After narrowly avoiding a very uncomfortable day caused by drinking sour milk, courtesy of Kyu-Ohki's quick warning, Naruto headed out to the explanatory Genin meeting after putting her goggles on. After about three blocks, Naruto remembered that she was now officially a Genin and should be wearing her forehead protector, so she ran back to her apartment to get it. She put the forehead protector on properly, on her forehead, and adjusted it in the mirror until it looked right. Unfortunately, she spent a few extra minutes posing in the mirror before leaving once again. A run in with Konohamaru attempting to use a disguise sheet, sideways, slowed her down even more. Thus, she arrived at the Academy at the same time she would have had Iruka not given his advice. Even though Naruto was still female, the young boy easily recognized her, as it was the same form she had used to sneak into the girls' bathhouse with him. He assumed Naruto was just pulling a prank and demanded that she fight him, right before he tripped over the edge of the disguise sheet. Naruto, however, declined by stating she had a meeting to go to. 

Admittedly, she was not late to the meeting, but more people were already there than she had wanted. As she sat down at an empty table, people began to look at her in curiosity. Her more sensitive hearing picked up some of what was whispered, such as "Who's the babe?" and "Did she graduate early?"

One of the new shinobi, Nara Shikamaru, was among the first to figure out what was really going on. The skinny, pineapple haired youth was credited with being the smartest yet laziest student in the class. He walked up to Naruto and asked, "What are you doing here, Naruto? This meeting is only for those of us who graduated."

"Can you not see the forehead protector? From today on, I'm a ninja too!" Naruto explained, before realizing that Shikamaru had recognized her. "Ano, how did you know it was me?"

"You're so troublesome, Naruto," the lazy boy commented before explaining, "How many people, other than yourself are blond, have whisker marks, and wear an orange jumpsuit everyday? Add to that your apparent habit for using henge to turn into a female you, and it is easy to see through such a disguise. Drop the henge, it's too troublesome."

"I wish I could," Naruto muttered under her breath. "Damn new blood limit."

Another individual who knew that Naruto was actually Naruto was Aburame Shino, a ninja who used kikaichu bugs that lived in him feeding off his chakra and wore an extremely high collared coat and dark sunglasses, who had sent one of his kikaichu insects to examine the new kunoichi. Upon learning that her chakra was a perfect match for Naruto, yet her smell was definitely female, Shino merely raised an eyebrow and thought, _'Out of all shinobi, only Naruto would be able be able to accidentally make himself female.'_

Hyuuga Hinata, the pale eyed and pupil-less heiress of the Hyuuga clan, had originally been happy when she saw the bright orange jumpsuit, thinking that Naruto had managed to graduate. When she realized that it was a girl wearing the jumpsuit, she was crestfallen. Knowing Naruto's predilection for pranks, however, Hinata tried one last test. Her hands flew through a practiced set of hand seals and she softly said, "Byakugan," activating her blood limit. Veins bulged around and in her eyes as colors inverted and she began to see the chakra around her and in her classmates. Looking at the blond, she was upset to see that no chakra was being used to support a henge. She then noticed how easily she could see the girl's chakra coils. With her relatively poor ability using the Byakugan, especially from across the room, that meant that the girl's coils must be incredibly large for her age. The only person Hinata knew with coils like that was Naruto, leaving the poor Hyuuga completely confused.

The last individual who, technically, figured out the ruse was Inuzuka Kiba. When he saw the new girl, he liked what he saw. Taking a quick sniff to judge if she was already taken, he was surprised by how strongly she smelt of Naruto. The only explanation he could think of as that she was Naruto's sister, which made no sense, as Naruto was an orphan with no family. Because he was confused, he sent his dog to take a closer and more detailed smell. When he found out that the girl's scent was too close to Naruto's to even be a sibling, Kiba went into denial. He could not believe that the babe before him was Naruto. It was simply inconceivable. As such, he did what he normally would, and went over to flirt. "Hello there, gorgeous, I'm Kiba. What's your name? I want to howl it to the moon!"

"Gah!" Naruto exclaimed, propelling himself backwards, away from Kiba. "What the hell kind of question is that?"

Before Kiba could answer, two girls rushed into the room, shouting, "Goal!" Naruto looked at the pink haired kunoichi with hearts in her eyes, as Haruno Sakura was her crush, not that she would even give Naruto the time of day. The other girl was Yamanaka Ino, a blond girl with blue eyes that seemed to be missing the pupils. The two girls were adamant Uchiha Sasuke fangirls, and obsessed over him like most of the other girls in the class, not to mention the village. In fact, only Hinata seemed to be spared this affliction in their class. Sakura and Ino immediately argued about who had gotten into the classroom first, trying to determine who would sit next to Sasuke. The Uchiha sat at the end of a table, making it impossible for two members of his fanclub to sit next to him. Ultimately, Sakura won and Ino sat next to Shikamaru dejectedly.

Finally, everyone had arrived and been seated. Iruka stood at the front of the class and announced, "Starting today, you are all official ninja, but you are all still Genin. It will only get harder from here. You will all be separated into groups of three, in which you will perform missions under a Jounin instructor. We've arranged the teams so that their combined skills would be equivalent. I will now announce the teams." Because no one really cares about the first six Genin teams, they will be skipped. "Next, seventh group. Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke." At this point, Sakura cheered and lorded her spot with the black eyed and cold hearted Uchiha over Ino. "Next, eighth group. Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, and Yamanaka Ino." At this, Hinata nearly fainted in joy, even though she had not seen Naruto in the room. This increased her earlier suspicions concerning the new blond.

Ino slumped forward in defeat and groaned, "I'm with Naruto."

"Next, tenth group. Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru." The last three Genin simply accepted their group. "That's it. I'll introduce the Jounin in the afternoon. Meeting adjourned until then!"

Wanting to get to know her teammates, or rather Hinata, better, Ino walked over to the shy girl and asked, "Do you want to eat lunch with me? It would probably be a good idea to get to know our teammates better."

"H-hai," stuttered Hinata, surprised that anyone would want to get to know her. "We should in-invite Naruto-kun as w-well."

"I guess you're right," Ino admitted. "I wonder where he is; I haven't seen him all day."

"Ano," Hinata started, pushing her fingertips together nervously, "I th-think he's the new girl."

"Nani?!" exclaimed Ino before she walked over to her fellow blond and asked, "Are you Naruto?"

"Hai," Naruto muttered, sad that she had not been placed into a group with Sakura.

"Come on, we're having lunch together," Ino all but ordered. She led the trio up to the roof where they sat down and started to eat their lunches. Once they were settled, Ino turned to Naruto and demanded, "Why are you disguised as a girl?"

"I'm not," Naruto replied sadly.

"You sure look like a girl from here!" Ino shouted.

"Ano, Naruto-kun isn't using h-henge at all right now," Hinata ventured to state.

"Nani?!" Ino shouted even louder. "You mean he's really a girl? How can that be?"

"It's my new blood limit," Naruto admitted. "I need to learn a new type of henge before I can change back to normal."

"Just how complete a change is it?" Ino wondered.

"It is complete, all the way down to the genetic level," Naruto confessed. "At least that is what I've been told."

* * *

Across the town, two individuals were standing in the kitchen of Naruto's apartment. One was the Hokage and the other was Yuuhi Kurenai, Naruto's Jounin instructor. "So this is Naruto's home?" the red eyed woman asked, mostly to herself. 

"Naruto has had a bit of a change, and is continuing to change. I wish you luck. It is not going to be easy teaching him at the moment," the Hokage told the rookie Jounin. "He will likely need your help and understanding over the next few months. Also, he has informed me that he has difficulty getting equipment of even fair quality. This could prove detrimental to his performance on your team."

Kurenai looked over at the table where a carton of milk sat. She picked it up and looked at it, saying, "This milk expired quite some time ago. He's lucky he didn't drink it."

"Indeed," replied the Hokage. "You should probably get going soon if you if you plan on meeting your team on time." Kurenai nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The Hokage sighed before getting a broom to sweep up the leaves. It would not do to let Naruto know that he had had visitors. "Why does that jutsu always produce leaves, even when it's done inside?"

* * *

Back on the roof, the tree girls were continuing their conversation. "So Naruto, why are you so annoying all the time?" Ino asked. When Naruto refused to answer, she rephrased her question, "Why are you always pulling those stupid pranks?" 

"It was the only way to get anyone to acknowledge my existence," Naruto answered, her emotional shields lowered more than usual due to the last few days.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata murmured, somehow low enough that Naruto did not here.

"What do you mean no one acknowledges your existence?" Ino asked.

"Once I get back to normal, you'll see during our missions," Naruto said miserably. "People cross the street just to avoid passing me on the sidewalk. Others just pretend I'm not even there. I have never been allowed into the Konoha library without at least Chunnin accompaniment and a note from the Hokage. Most store owners won't even let me shop in their stores. Hell, most parents tell their children to stay away from me. I'm sure yours did, Ino." At this point, Naruto was close to sobbing, and Hinata finally worked up enough courage to give the whiskered girl a comforting hug. Likely the only reason she could even do that much was because Naruto was currently female.

"You're right," Ino said slowly, calling up a distant memory, "my parents did tell me to stay away from you when I tried to make friends with you, right before I met Sakura. They said you were dangerous and that I should find a better friend than a mon…ster? Why would they call you a monster? I mean, sure, you are really annoying, but your pranks never even hurt anyone, right?" Naruto could only shake her head, starting to cry even harder. "Come on, you can tell us. We're your teammates; we won't leave you over something stupid. Right, Hinata?"

The pale eyed girl hugged Naruto fiercely, for her, and said, "I'll never l-leave you, Naruto-kun."

"I c-can't t-tell you," Naruto sobbed. "It's an S-class secret. Even i-if I did t-tell you, y-you'd probably h-hate me."

"I could never hate you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said firmly and without stuttering, surprising Ino. Naruto turned slightly in Hinata's hug in order to properly return it.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered into Hinata's hair.

Looking at the position of the sun, Ino said, "Come on, Naruto, let's get you cleaned up. You wouldn't want to meet our Jounin instructor with tear tracks, would you?" The naturally-female blond helped the other two girls get up, and she and Hinata quickly ushered Naruto into the girl's bathroom so she could wash her face and pull the hair that had gotten loose back into her customary pigtails.

"Thank you," Naruto said thickly as the trio headed back into the class rooms. They made it just in time for the last three groups to have their instructors announced.

"Team Seven, Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight, Yuuhi Kurenai. Team Ten, Sarutobi Asuma. Please wait for your instructors to arrive and pick you up." With that, Iruka sat down at his desk to wait for the first eight Jounin to arrive. He had absolutely no intention of waiting for Kakashi.

"Team Eight, follow me," called out the red eyed Jounin as soon as she entered the room. When three girls stood, she had to do a double take and check for a genjutsu before leading her team out of the room. She led them out of the academy and to a relatively secluded training area. "Before we start with introductions, I would like to know where Uzumaki Naruto is and why I have an extra girl here," Kurenai demanded.

The whiskered girl raised her hand, saying, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm a girl right now because of a blood limit that has just manifested."

"Alright, I'll believe you, for now. The Hokage wasn't kidding about needing luck with you. Anyways, I'll introduce myself first. My name is Kurenai Yuuhi, and this is my first team as a Jounin. I am a genjutsu specialist. I like shochu, vodka, salted octopus, and drinking a glass of wine at night. I dislike cake, perverts, and those who don't give people a chance. My dream for the future is to make you three into the best kunoi- I mean shinobi you can be. Sorry about that, Naruto. Why don't you go next? By the way, the Hokage wanted me to tell you that the Law doesn't apply to you and that you would know what he meant."

"If I could, I'd like to go last, Kurenai-sensei. My introduction might take a while."

Kurenai nodded. "Alright, Ino, why don't you go next?"

"Alright. I am Yamanaka Ino, and I have just become a Genin. I like flowers, small tomatoes in pudding and Sasuke. I dislike annoying people and forehead girl. My hobbies are star gazing and helping my mom out in our flower shop."

"Hinata, you're next."

"I am Hyuuga Hinata, and I am a Genin. I l-like…" she looked at Naruto and pushes her fingertips together nervously, "senzai, and cinnamon rolls. I dislike the C-caged-Bird seal and the separation between the M-main and Branch houses of the Hyuuga clan. My hobby is flower pressing."

"Alright, Naruto, it's your turn now."

"Kurenai-sensei, can you make sure no one else can hear us?" Naruto asked. Kurenai nodded and placed a powerful genjutsu over the group. "Thank you. What I am about to say is an S-class secret. I am Uzumaki Naruto, and I am the container for the Kyuubi that is thought to have attacked twelve years ago." Now Naruto had everyone's complete attention. "The truth is that the Kyuubi no Kitsune has been dead for over one thousand years. The demon that nearly destroyed Konoha long ago was the Kyuubi no Cabbit, and it was acting in self defense do to a very large misunderstanding. I hope you don't hate me now. I just thought you should know the truth." Naruto finished sadly.

"You aren't the demon, are you?" Ino asked, cautiously.

"No, Naruto is not the Kyuubi, merely its jailer," Kurenai supplied. "In fact, when he stole the Scroll of Sealing, we thought he was trying to release Kyuubi because of how the village treated him. Even the Hokage was worried. Even after he found out the truth, he still didn't try to get revenge. Instead, he returned the scroll, having only learned one technique, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. That is why Naruto graduated."

"In that case, I see no reason to hate you," Ino stated resolutely.

'Naruto-kun really is strong,' Hinata thought to herself. Instead of saying anything and risk it coming out stuttered and sounding fearful, Hinata warmly hugged Naruto again, with a slight blush that both Ino and Kurenai noticed.

"If I thought you were a demon, I would have never requested you be put on my team. You're just lucky that learning Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and beating a traitorous Chunnin was sufficient to bump your scores up enough to qualify for my team." The other two girls were shocked by that revelation. "If you were on your original team, you'd still be waiting to be picked up."

"But Kurenai-sensei," protested Ino, "You picked us up an hour ago!"

"Yes, but then, Kakashi is always late. Now, on to more business. It is time for you to take the test to see if you are ready to be Genin," Kurenai stated.

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed. "But we already graduated!"

"True," Kurenai said, "but that was to see if you had the skills needed to be Genin. Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine are allowed to become Genin. Now, normally this is done by pitting you against one another to see if you can put aside your own wants for the good of the group. I believe you have already demonstrated that, but I still need to evaluate your skills, so you'll have another test. We're going shopping."

"How will shopping be a test?" Ino asked while Naruto was already mentally considering this test a failure.

"Specifically, we'll be shopping for Naruto, as he needs better gear than what he has. He will be paying for everything, of course. The larger problem is that most stores won't allow Naruto in. That is your task. First, to get new clothing for Naruto that is both functional and tasteful, and second, to get him higher quality equipment."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Naruto demanded. "I like them!"

"In the village, nothing," Kurenai admitted. "However, on a mission, wearing bright orange is the same as waving around a banner and yelling 'Here I am! Come kill me! I want to die!' You need clothing that won't stand out quite as much. Actually, it might be best for you continue to wear your jumpsuit while in the village, so no one becomes the wiser."

'Clothes shopping for Naruto-kun,' Hinata thought to herself, trying not to blush.

"Well, get a move on! You only have until the stores close." Kurenai prompted.

"Naruto, do your kage bunshin have the same problem with henge that you do?" asked Ino.

"I don't know," admitted the whiskered girl, "but there is one easy way to find out. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A single shadow clone popped into existence and cried, "Henge!" When the smoke cleared, a perfect copy of Ino stood before the group.

"That's perfect. We'll have one of your kage bunshin disguised as the normal you and start causing mischief outside whatever store we go to. Then you, with your whiskers hidden with some of my make up, will sneak into the store. Hinata will act as a lookout with her Byakugan while the two of us help you pick out clothing. Your stuff fits the same in both forms, correct?"

"H-how did you come up with such a c-complex plan that quickly?" Hinata asked.

"Dad forced me to hang out with Shikamaru too much. Shogi is about the only thing he does other than sleep. Some of his strategic mind must have rubbed off on me. Now, get over here, Naruto!" Ino pulled Naruto down in front of her before reaching into her hip pack and pulling out a makeup kit. A few moments later, all evidence of whisker marks were removed from Naruto's face. "There we go, all set to start. Let's head to one of the better shinobi shops."

The trio of girls made their way to one of the best ninja supply stores in Konoha while the kage bunshin followed by a few dozen meters. As they approached, they stepped into a nearby ally to allow the clone to do its work. The real Naruto pumped more chakra into the clone so it would survive long enough to do its job. The clone made its way into the store, dropped its pants, and mooned the owner. Pulling its pants back up, the clone stuck its tongue out at the manager and sped off. The manager stood there fuming for a second before telling the cashier to watch the store and dashing out the door in pursuit.

"Phase one complete," Ino stated. "Now we have a diversion and an alibi. I wonder how much of what we're doing is actually illegal."

While Hinata stood there in mild shock at the idea, Naruto just scoffed. "Worse comes to worst, just claim you don't remember what happened and blame me. No one would question you."

"I c-couldn't do that to you, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said quietly.

"Right, we're in this together," Ino agreed. "Now, let's move while we have the chance!" The three girls stealthily made their way into the store, which was easier than expected because as soon as his boss left, the cashier took out and began reading a little orange book. Heading over to the clothing section first, Ino started to pull out random clothing before turning to Naruto and asking, "Why do you always wear the same clothes? Do you really like them that much, or were they the only thing that the stores would allow you to get and you grew to like them so you wouldn't mind as much?"

"How do you figure me out so easily," Naruto whispered. "This is the only style and color I've been able to buy since the first time I tried to become a Genin."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata breathed sadly.

"The only reason they would want a ninja to wear bright orange is…" Ino began before it hit her. "Those bastards are trying to get you killed! Like Kurenai-sensei said, wearing that thing is like asking to be killed."

"So, what colors should I wear," Naruto asked.

"I'd say darker colors, like blues, grays, and black. Maybe some green. If you actually like orange, a little bit probably wouldn't hurt. I mean, we do wear a shiny piece of metal at all times in highly visible places." The other two girls blinked a bit, suddenly realizing that the very thing that identified them as shinobi could cause them to lose their lives. "So, do you have a preferred style?"

"Can I get stuff like what I'm wearing now?" Naruto asked. "After wearing it for so long, I think other styles wouldn't feel right. We already know that it'll fit both my forms, so it'll be easier to get the right size."

"Naruto-k-kun," Hinata began, blushing. "I t-think you look g-good in that style."

"Thanks, Hinata-chan."

Ino just sighed. "I was hoping to get you into something more fashionable, but, since we have a time limit, we'll go with that for now." She reached into the back of Naruto's jacket and checked the size. Moving quickly, she found more jumpsuits of the same style but in different, more suitable, colors. "Good, we've got the clothing; now, let's get the weapons and the weights."

The headed over to the hardware section of the store and looked at the shuriken and kunai available. When Naruto saw the prices, she pointed to the most expensive and exclaimed, "Are those prices right?"

Hinata looked at the price as well as the associated kunai and mentioned, "N-no, Naruto-kun. They're actually a l-little lower than I'd expect."

"Nani?!" the orange-clad girl nearly shouted. "But that's less than half of what I paid for mine!"

Ino was once again shocked and appalled by the villagers' behavior. "Naruto, those are the best kunai available. Mostly just the larger clans buy them." Suddenly even more suspicious, she asked, "Can I see one of your kunai?" When Naruto handed her one, she pulled out one of her own and pressed the blades together with all her might. When she pulled the blades apart, there was a noticeable notch in Naruto's blade while Ino's was not even slightly marred. "It's just as I feared. Naruto, your kunai are of the lowest quality I have ever seen. They really do want you dead."

"I knew my kunai were bad," Naruto admitted, hanging her head sadly. "But I had no idea they were that poorly made. And I never imagined they were overcharging me that much." After a few moments of looking at the various pointy objects, Naruto's head snapped towards the door, and she announced, "I just felt my kage bunshin disperse! We need to hurry." The trio quickly picked up a few braces of medium quality kunai, around what Ino used, and made their way to the weight systems. After checking how much money Naruto had compared to what her purchases would cost, they decided that the special chakra powered weight vest would be best. Rather, Hinata decided that they would get three of the pricey yet excellent training weights, and declared that she would pay for all three herself.

The three vests used a seal on the inside of the back to store chakra and to exert weight evenly over the body, providing a better workout than normal weights alone. The vest was held closed with a zipper, allowing it to be removed relatively quickly. As the weight they exert could only be adjusted by the person whose chakra had been attuned to the seal, tampering was next to impossible. Additionally, the seal was only active when being worn by the person it was attuned to, which would allow others to carry it easily if the wearer was injured in battle. When not being worn, the seal passively stored the chakra, so that it would be ready to go the next time it was worn. The only real design flaw with the vest was that the amount of weight could only be increased and never decreased. The higher than normal price was the only thing that stopped most ninja from using them. Luckily for the team, Hinata was normally extremely frugal, considering her rather large allowance. The three vests would barely make a noticeable dent in her personal bank account.

Finally, with all of the purchases selected, they made their way to the cashier. "Are you set with everything? The man asked, his nose buried in the little orange book, the pervert.

"Yes," Naruto said. "I'm ready to be rung up."

Without really looking up from his book, the cashier rang up the total and stated the price, still not looking at his customer. After Naruto paid, Hinata placed the three vests on the counter. "I-I'd like to buy these, p-please. C-could I also h-have them set to my teammates and m-myself?"

Now the cashier looked up. It was not often that a single chakra weight vest was sold, let alone three to the same person. Seeing the Hyuuga heiress, he snapped to attention. "Of course, Hyuuga-sama. Allow me to do that right away." Hinata sighed, disliking the way the cashier changed his demeanor upon learning who she was. She quickly wrote a personal check to pay for the vests. "Now, I need the three of you to channel a small amount of chakra into the seal to set it to your chakra and add the initial weight. It should use about the same as a single bunshin."

Hearing that, Naruto started to sweat. She could not channel just enough chakra for a bunshin; she always far overshot the mark. "Ano, what happens if we use too much chakra?" she asked, nervous that she might cause the seal to explode or something equally unpleasant.

"No worries there," the cashier laughed. "The worst you can do is cause the vest to become too heavy for you to move in. The seals can easily support several tons, though I've never heard of anyone using that much." Reassured that she wouldn't destroy Hinata's gift, Naruto was ready to begin. The three girls channeled their chakra as they were told, Naruto using the smallest amount of chakra she could at the moment. "Let's see, the light tan vest (Hinata) currently weighs twenty pounds. The purple vest (Ino) weighs twenty pounds as well. The orange (Naruto) vest weighs…" the cashier stared in shock. "I said a bunshin! You used enough chakra to make this vest weigh one hundred pounds! Don't you know how to do even that right?" Granted, the cashier was an academy dropout, so he at least knew some of what he was talking about.

"I can't use bunshin," Naruto admitted. "I have to use kage bunshin instead."

The cashier just gaped, knowing that there were two main problems with that statement. First, kunoichi typically have relatively small chakra reserves and exceptional control. Second, kage bunshin used insane amounts of chakra, so even most Chunnin did not have enough for a single kage bunshin; the academy usually requires at least three viable clones. Three kage bunshin use more chakra than a Genin should ever have. "How many can you make at once?"

"Um, I kind of lost count around one hundred…"

As the cashier began to hyperventilate, the three girls donned their new vests and slumped slightly under the weight. Naruto, on the other hand, almost crashed to the floor. Knowing that Naruto would never be able to carry her bags while getting used to the vest, Ino picked them up and walked towards the door. "Come on, Naruto, we need to get back to Kurenai-sensei before she fails us!"

As Hinata helped the weighed down blond to the door, the cashier could only mutter one thing, "If management finds out about this, I am so fired."

The three girls slowly made their way back to the training ground where Kurenai was supposedly waiting. Indeed, when the arrived, she was leaning against a tree. "You all did fine, except for one part," Kurenai began. "Naruto, where are your weights?"

"Ano," Hinata began timidly, "I b-bought three chakra weight v-vests for the team."

"I see," Kurenai stated. "I was sure you would pass when you were here earlier, but now I know you three will make a great team. Now, you three have a choice to make. You can both take Naruto's stuff back to his apartment and then do two laps around Konoha to adjust to the weight, or you can take a lap around Konoha and let Naruto bring his new gear back by himself. By the way, how much weight are you starting with?"

"Ino and Hinata-chan both started with twenty pounds like they were supposed to," Naruto stated. "But, even though I channeled as little chakra as I could into the vest, I still ended up starting with one hundred pounds."

"The Hokage wasn't kidding about you needing chakra control. So, what is your decision?"

"I think I speak for Hinata as well when I say we'd rather help Naruto than get out of doing an extra lap," Ino declared. Hinata nodded her agreement.

"Alright then, after your laps, you are free to go. Be here by seven o'clock tomorrow morning for your first mission. Naruto, orange will be acceptable if you wish to continue wearing it in the village. Dismissed." The three girls jogged off, with Ino and Hinata carrying Naruto's purchases while the second blond led the way back to their apartment. Kurenai poofed her way to the Hokage's office and announced, "Team Eight has passed. I would like to start them on missions tomorrow. I also have some disturbing news regarding Naruto. It appears that the shops of the village are conspiring to get him killed by only allowing him to buy brightly colored or horribly inferior equipment. As a high note, the girls took the news about Naruto's tenant surprisingly well."

"Yes, well, Hinata has always admired Naruto for his strength, so this probably only deepened her feelings, and Ino always did try to befriend outcasts," the Hokage commented.

"She mentioned having tried to befriend Naruto in the past, only to be stopped by her parents," Kurenai added. "I think hearing it from Naruto almost immediately after learning that he could actually tell people helped her acceptance a lot, though he never did say much else about himself."

"Ah, yes, I told you to tell him that because he had already told the girls that he had a secret, and was not sure if he could reveal it."

"Well, in any case, I have high expectations or the team. Hell, the girls even decided to take an extra lap around Konoha over abandoning Naruto while wearing twenty pounds of new weights."

"Yes, those three will go far," the Hokage agreed.


	2. Inner demons revealed

Kyuubi no Cabbit

Chapter 2: Inner demons revealed.

(Now, I know that some people are probably upset that Naruto is a girl, but don't despair! He **WILL **regain his true gender by the end of chapter three.) Thanks to deitarion/SSokolow for being my beta reader.

* * *

After a long day, consisting of being sorted into teams, finding out that the village thinks that one of her teammates is a demon, shopping, and running around the entire village with weights on, twice, Ino wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. Unfortunately, her parents had a different plan for the evening. As soon as she walked into the room, her father asked her, "So, how is your team? I expect that you got along well with Shikamaru and Chouji." 

"Why would I be on a team with those two?" Ino asked.

"Well, you are the second generation of the winning Ino-Shika-Cho combination," her father, Inoichi, commented.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not on a team with them."

"How did that happen?" her mother, Nodoka, all but demanded. Nodoka was a red haired woman who, while very pleasant, was somewhat traditional.

"We were supposed to try to be on the same team?"

"Well, no, but it should have happened naturally. So, who are your teammates then?" Inoichi asked.

Ino prepared for the reaction she feared would come, and said, "My teammates are Hyuuga Hinata," here her father and mother nodded, "and Uzumaki Naruto."

"What?!" Inoichi and Nodoka exclaimed. Inoichi continued, "I'm going to go and see the Hokage about changing your team right away!"

"What's wrong with my team?" Ino asked scathingly. "Is there something I should know about one of my teammates?"

Here Inoichi began to sweat. He could not tell his daughter about the demon because of Sandaime's Law, but he wanted to warn her in some way. "It's not that there is something wrong, per se, it's just that Uzumaki is a bad influence. I mean, look at all the trouble he causes! Why, just today he mooned a helpless store manager."

Ino began giggling at that memory. "And Shikamaru's laziness or Chouji's overeating are good influences?" she demanded after fighting down her giggles.

"Well, when looked at like that," the long blond haired man began, before firming himself. "Compared to Naruto, those two are shining examples of proper behavior."

"Did you know that Naruto hasn't had a single friend, not even one, since before I first met him?" Ino demanded. "You stopped me from being a lonely boy's first friend!"

"I was stopping you from making a horrible mistake!" Inoichi said, raising his voice significantly.

"The only mistake I made that day was listening to you!" the young blond screamed.

Inoichi immediately froze, quickly becoming concerned. Softly, he whispered, "Oh, my poor Ino-chan, what has that monster done to you?"

"Daddy, Naruto isn't the Kyuubi," Ino said just as quietly. "Why can't everybody see that?"

"What did you say?" her mother asked, wanting to make sure she was not just hearing things. Inoichi was too shocked to speak.

"I said that Naruto is not the Kyuubi."

"Who told you about that?" Inoichi demanded. Someone had broken the law, and someone would have to pay for it.

"Naruto told Hinata and me, as soon as he knew he was allowed to. He could have hidden it from us, but he told us, just so we could trust each other more."

"How can you trust him?" Inoichi asked. "How can you trust him after hearing about the demon?"

"How can I not?" Ino retorted. "He willingly shared his darkest secret when he could have hidden it. Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired, so I am going to go to bed. Good night." Ino continued on to her room and much deserved rest, leaving her father and mother to think about the way they had treated Naruto in the past.

* * *

Hinata was extremely sore when she got into bed that night. When she had staggered into the Main Family house, her father had demanded she spar with her seven year old sister, Hanabi. Hinata lost even faster than she usually did, for multiple reasons. While she was probably skilled enough to win, she disliked the idea of hurting her family while having very little self confidence, and thus would hold back most of her ability, slowing her progress immensely. With her state of exhaustion and not being given enough time to even take her weights off, Hinata could not move even half as quickly as normal. After being Juukened into submission and called a dismal failure by her father, Hinata was dismissed to return to her room for the night. At no point did the Hyuuga head, Hiashi, ask about Hinata's Genin team, seeing it as beneath his notice. 

Tired, though with much to think about, Hinata stayed up for another hour, thinking about her day. _'Naruto-kun is much stronger than I thought. I should try to be strong like him. He isn't even letting his current problems get to him. And I hugged him! Squeeee! And he even returned the hug. He must like me!'_ That decided, Hinata's self confidence began its climb out of the deep shaft her father had dug then pushed it into. The fact that Naruto was currently female did not even register to the young heiress.

Hinata was tired enough that she almost instantly fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. Her dreams were filled with images of Naruto-kun and Naruto-chan, so she slept happily. There were even a few furry Naruto of each variety running around her head, and all of the Naruto were giving her hugs. It soon degenerated into what could only be compared to the Harem no Jutsu. All in all, she had very pleasant dreams, dreams pleasant enough to make her more confident and far less timid, at least were Naruto was concerned.

* * *

Naruto was spending her night in a similar yet different manner. She was discussing the day's happenings with Kyu-Ohki while doing push-ups with her vest still on. She had more weight to adjust to, but she also had far more stamina than the girls and torn muscles, ligaments, and tendons would not be an issue. Thus she could train harder than she technically should. "So, Kyu-Ohki, what did you think about our team?" 

"_**I know we're in your apartment, but you should still practice talking to me silently, so you won't mess up later."**_

"_Sorry."_

"_**Anyways, I think you were extremely lucky to get the team you did,"**_ the cabbit replied. _**"I doubt any other team would have accepted us so quickly."**_

"_So, when do you want to meet them? I mean in person, or as close as you can get."_

"_**Probably before the team begins any serious training,"**_ Kyu-Ohki decided. _**"If I remember correctly, the Yamanaka are known for **__**mind-control**__** jutsu. If she were to try that on you without any warning, she could panic and hurt herself. She should probably meet me face to face as soon as possible, to remove any lingering doubts and to prepare her **__**in case**__** she ever encounters another demon vessel. Most aren't as nice as I am, and even I would destroy any unexpected intruders that I didn't accept."**_

"_That is a good idea,"_ Naruto agreed. _"Well, that was one hundred __push-ups__. I think I should get to sleep now."_ Naruto was soon asleep and dreaming of a girl with dark blue hair hugging him. When he awoke in the morning, however, he did not remember his dreams at all, even though he knew that they were among the best he had ever had. Kyu-Ohki, on the other hand both remembered and chuckled over the dream.

* * *

The next morning, while Kakashi's team was miserably waiting for him to arrive, Kurenai's team was meeting to prepare for their first mission. All three girls were wearing their weight vests and their habitual clothing, meaning Naruto was still asking to be killed in her orange jumpsuit. When everyone had arrived, right before seven o'clock, Kurenai began, "We'll be doing a D-class mission in the morning, and we'll be working on chakra control and other abilities after lunch. Your mission today is to retrieve the Fire Lord's wife's cat. This is also a training mission, specifically for Hinata. From what I have heard, small, moving, living targets are the best to train the Byakugan with. So find that cat!" 

Hinata activated her Byakugan, and Naruto made a few dozen clones to look for the cat. The group then split up, the original team staying together while the Kage Bunshin spread out over the entire village and surrounding area. The three were passing the Hyuuga Complex when one of the Branch members on guard shouted, "Stay away from Hinata-sama, you beast!" Quickly racing towards the team, he called out, "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" The attack hit the surprised Naruto, who had only been recognized by his orange jumpsuit. Seconds after the attack started, sixty-four of her tenketsu had been closed, causing her to drop to the ground. The guard finally noticed that his target had been female, and was not under a henge, and turned to Hinata. "My apologizes, Hinata-sama. I mistook your acquaintance for Uzumaki Naruto. The Council ordered that we protect you from him, at all costs. They even taught some of us guards some of the Main Family's attacks to use on him, if need be."

"I don't need protection from Naruto-kun," Hinata replied, still properly confident from her thoughts the night before and quite upset at this development. "Please tell the Council that any such measures are deleterious towards my Genin team, as Naruto-kun is part of it." Turning towards Naruto, she asked, "Naruto-kun, are you alright? That J-Juuken attack stops you from being able to move or use c-chakra, but it is only temporary. You should be fine in a few hours."

"A few hours is too long!" Naruto exclaimed. "We have a mission to complete." Turning inward, Naruto asked, _"Oi! Kyu-Ohki, is there anything you can do to fix this?"_

"_**You are lucky, Naruto. You essentially have two chakra systems, so all you need to do is flood the second with my chakra."**_

"_Thanks, Kyu-Ohki,"_ Naruto replied before drawing on the cabbit's power. Red chakra seeped from her pores as she began to circulate the demonic chakra. Slowly, the chakra applied to her tenketsu was expelled, point by point, and Naruto was able to stand. "Well, what do you know?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "Juuken doesn't work on me." The guard stood in shock for a moment before running back to the gates of the Hyuuga Complex in fear at Naruto's display of power, not to mention current gender. "Come on, let's get going."

"How were you able to do that?" Ino asked amazed.

"It's simple, really," Naruto replied. "I just had a little help." She made a vague gesture towards her stomach, which the two others picked up instantly. "Come on, let's find that cat!"

The trio continued to search around, using the Byakugan for the amount of time Hinata could sustain it and in a more normal way the rest of the time. They had made it into the wood surrounding the village before any sign of the cat was seen. Finally, Hinata spotted movement on the edge of her Byakugan's range. Turning quickly, she zoomed in on the movement. "I see the target!" she said excitedly. "It is approximately thirty meters in that direction."

"Alright! Let's get it!" Naruto shouted, pumping her fist in the air. She quickly dispelled her clones from around the city and stumbled slightly under an unexpected wave of experience before creating a new batch to capture the cat. The Naruto charged and tackled the cat, easily preventing its escape. The cat showed its irritation by scratching Naruto's face into a pattern of bloody lines. "Ah! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

"Hold it still for a minute, okay? Oh, and be ready to carry me," Ino ordered, flying through some hand seals. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Suddenly, Ino's body slumped forward. Seconds latter the cat calmed down completely and leaped into Hinata's arms.

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed. "What happened to Ino?"

Hinata continued to pet the cat innocently, and said, "I think her m-mind is in the cat. Come on, get her b-body and let's go. I'm not sure how long this jutsu lasts." Naruto picked up Ino's body, bridal style, and followed Hinata. About half way to the drop off point, Ino returned to her body, yet the cat stayed just as tranquil in Hinata's arms as before.

"Damn," Ino muttered. "I held the jutsu too long. Naruto, do you mind carrying me for a little longer? I need to recover." When Naruto gave her consent, Ino murmured, "Thanks," before her head lolled against Naruto's chest, which was currently a rather soft pillow, and was asleep within seconds. She squirmed to cuddle closer to the source of warmth and comfort, causing Naruto to flush a deep red from the sensations it produced.

"Um, what should I do with her now?" Naruto asked.

"Just c-carry her for now, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered. The two slowed down, no longer trying to reach their destination before Ino ran out of chakra. That was no longer a concern, as Ino already passed that point. Twenty minutes later, the small group arrived at the village's business office. When the Hokage saw Naruto carrying a sleeping Ino, who was smiling slightly and still occasionally trying to burrow into the other blonde's side, he blinked a few times, but said nothing.

When the slightly obese woman received her cat, she began to hug it in a manner that made it obvious why it had run away. Even as Hinata was regretting having a part in the torturing of the poor cat, both Naruto and Kyu-Ohki were thinking, _'Yes, hug it harder! Mwahahaha! Just a little more!'_ Ino, obviously, had no opinion regarding the fate of the cat because she was still sleeping in Naruto's arms. She was very happy at the moment, whether she consciously realized it or not. "Um, Hinata-chan, did Kurenai-sensei want us to get another mission or just head back to the training grounds?"

Hinata replied, "I think she wanted us to h-head back to the training ground." Despite her calm exterior, she was jealous of Ino. She wanted to be the one sleeping in Naruto's arms. "I wonder why Kurenai-sensei didn't come with us on this mission."

"I'm sure she followed us and just kept out of sight to see how well we worked together." Oh, how very wrong she was.

* * *

Kurenai was, in fact, in the most popular hangout for off-duty Jounin. While she was not drinking sake like most of the others, she was doing something usually done later that day. She was bragging about her Genin team, "I can't believe that I actually managed to get such a great team! They managed to demonstrate teamwork even before we finished our introductions!" 

"How'd you pull that one off?" asked Kakashi, who was currently only two hours late for his own team's test.

"Naruto told her teammates about Kyuubi," the brunette deadpanned.

With that one simple statement, Kakashi and nearly every ninja listening in spit out whatever they were drinking. The waitress, an unusually young, retired ANBU almost started throwing kunai at the shinobi making her job that much harder. Only the thought of having to clean the bloodstains stopped her. "He did what?!" Kakashi exclaimed once he calmed down enough. "That is the type of thing that would break a team!"

"Or makes it that much stronger," Kurenai stressed. "They readily accepted her; now they have a much deeper trust of one another."

"Why do you keep referring to Naruto as 'her'?" Kakashi asked.

"Damn," Kurenai muttered to herself. "I keep forgetting that she's really a boy." When she saw Kakashi's disbelieving look, she retorted, "What? Have you seen him recently? You'd forget, too!"

"If that's true, I hope his teammates don't forget, or things will get really awkward." It was then that Kurenai remembered the time and decided to leave.

At another table, the only eavesdropping shinobi who had not reacted to Kurenai's revelation about Naruto was thinking to himself, "Ino, you are a better shinobi than I." Leaving a tip on the table, Yamanaka Inoichi left the bar and headed back to his house, thinking of ways to properly apologize to the youth.

Kurenai knew that her team was special, that was why she let them do their first mission solo. That and she did not want her team to come to rely on her presence. They would need to think for themselves later, and it is always best to learn in a relatively safe environment. Besides, Naruto should be able to handle anything the village could throw at him. He did habitually evade many of the village's Chunnin and Jounin, after all. She arrived at the appointed training site just moments before her team did, which lessened any suspicions they might have had. She blinked in shock when she saw a red faced Naruto carrying a sleeping Ino. "What happened to Ino?" Kurenai asked, completely blowing any chance of making them think that she had been following them secretly.

"S-she just wore herself with her Sh-shintenshin," Hinata stated. "Naruto is just c-carrying her so she can get some rest." Ino took that moment to snuggle even closer Naruto, making the neo-girl blush even more fiercely. "As you c-can see, Ino seems to like N-Naruto carrying her."

"Can I put her down now?" Naruto begged; she was really starting to get embarrassed.

"Sure, sure, I need to talk about your training, anyways," Kurenai said dismissively. Naruto tried to place Ino gently on the ground, but the sleeping girl would not let go. After about five minutes of maneuvering, she finally gave up, having managed to get the other girl sitting on her lap and leaning against her sideways. At least this put Ino's head against Naruto's shoulder instead of her breast. "Now that the two of you are comfy," Kurenai began sadistically, "we can talk about your training, Naruto. Because you are having problems with chakra control, we'll start with tree climbing. I also want you to work on your natural chakra capacity, so you are to make as many Kage Bunshin as you can safely maintain and have them do tree climbing as well."

"Kurenai-sensei, how will climbing trees help my chakra control?" Naruto inquired.

"You won't be climbing with your hands," Kurenai stated. "Instead you need to channel enough chakra to your feet to stick to the tree. If you don't use too enough, you won't stick. If you use too much chakra, you'll blast off of the tree. This is a good control practice because the bottom of the foot is really hard to channel chakra to. Now, go make your Kage Bunshin and get to work. And don't use any of the Kyuubi's chakra or your reserves won't get any larger. Have them use a kunai to mark how high they get on each attempt. Oh, and a running start is supposed to help in the beginning."

Naruto gently placed Ino on the ground before jumping up. "Right. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called, using what was becoming one of her favorite jutsu. Two-hundred clones popped into existence. They each ran at a nearby tree, with up to four Naruto on a tree, channeling chakra into their feet. They all made it a few steps before either slipping or blasting off. They continued to try to climb the trees, making it up a few more steps each time.

As the Naruto continued their practice, Kurenai turned to Hinata. "Now, I expect that you already know tree walking because of the Byakugan. Is that correct?" Hinata nodded. "Good. Now, I know from Gai that watching moving animals and such is best, so I want you to watch all of the Naruto as they train. Try to pick out the real one."

"H-hai, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata stuttered with a blush. She walked into the middle of where Naruto was training.

"Ino, wake up," Kurenai said gently, lightly shaking the sleeping girl. "Come on, wake up. Wake up!" she finally screamed into Ino's ear. That woke the girl up. "I'd like you to join Naruto in the tree walking exercise." Ino only nodded before she ran towards a tree with only two Naruto and made it three meters up before slipping. She began to practice with earnest, knowing that better chakra control would help her last longer when performing her family jutsu. It was not her fault that her father was too lazy to teach her the technique earlier.

About two hours later, both Ino and Hinata were getting low on chakra. Naruto, all two hundred or so of her, was still going strong. "Kurenai-sensei, can we break for lunch?" Ino asked. She could already make it most of the way up the tree, with only her depleted chakra reserves holding her back. Naruto, on the other hand, was still only making it about half way up the tree on each attempt, gaining a few centimeters at a time. Hinata was not only tired, her eyes were also sore from the near constant use of her Byakugan. If she had actually had pupils, her eyes would have been crossed, as there were too many Naruto to watch at once. Despite having looked at each Naruto intently, she still could not find any significant difference between the clones and the original. Even the warm, red chakra that stayed near the blonds' stomach was copied. Now that she thought back on it, she was surprised she had never noticed it before.

"H-hai," Hinata started, "let's take a break, please. Naruto's clones are perfect duplicates, down to the chakra systems. Not even the Byakugan would be able to tell them apart. If I try for any l-longer, I'm going to get a migraine."

"Alright," Kurenai relented. It is time for lunch anyways. Naruto! The original! Come down here; we're taking a break. You, Kage Bunshin, continue with the tree walking until we get back!"

A single Naruto flipped down off of a nearby tree, pouting, "Why do I have to continue with my training when Hinata and Ino get to take a break?"

"Are you starting to feel tired, Naruto?" Kurenai asked.

"Not really," the girl admitted.

"That's why," the Jounin stated. "In order to increase your chakra reserves, you must work them down to nearly empty. With reserves as unnaturally large as yours, one must train almost continuously while using as much chakra as he or she can at once. Now, are you ready to go and get something to eat?"

"Sure! Where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"I know a really great dango shop nearby," Kurenai said, while leading the group away from the training site. "And, if I'm lucky, a friend of mine will be there as well," she muttered under her breath.

Soon the four girls found themselves in front of the dango shop. There was currently only one other customer in the shop, a kunoichi wearing a trench coat over her fishnet body stocking and short skirt. She was happily munching on a dumpling when she noticed the group. "Oy! Kurenai! Who're the brats?" she called to the Jounin.

"Anko, be nice," Kurenai admonished.

"That was nice," Anko replied.

"Anyways," Kurenai continued, "this is my Genin team. The Hyuuga is Hinata, the platinum blond wearing normal clothing is Yamanaka Ino, and the blond wearing orange is Uzumaki Naruto. Team, this is my good friend, Mitarashi Anko."

"Heh," Anko scoffed. "I always thought Uzumaki was a little more male than this. So, did you come here to eat or talk?"

"A bit of both," Kurenai admitted. She and her team ordered several helpings of dango before she continued. "I thought you could possibly help my team with their ninjutsu and taijutsu."

"And why would they allow me, the 'Snake Bitch,' to train them?" Anko scathingly asked, glaring at the Genin. Ino vaguely remembered her father mentioning the kunoichi several times as someone to avoid. Then again, she had also been told to stay away from Naruto.

"Huh?" asked Naruto, never one to know or understand the politics involving certain people in the village, himself included. "Why are you called the 'Snake Bitch'? Do you have a demon snake in your stomach or something?"

"What?!" Anko demanded angrily. "How dare you suggest such a thing?"

"Well, it isn't that much harder to believe than a demon fox, when you think about it," Ino commented.

"And that would be why they might allow you to train them," Kurenai interjected, before certain secrets were revealed. "Naruto already explained his condition and they have accepted him, so, if you explain your past, they might accept you as well. I wish I could have seen Kakashi's face when I told him about that. Damn his mask."

"Fine," Anko relented. While she refused to get her hopes up, she was willing to potentially antagonize three Genin for the chance to have more people accept her. "But I won't tell you here. We need to be someplace more private."

"Agreed," Kurenai said. "Alright, team, hurry up. We're going back to the training grounds."

"Hai!" the three Genin chorused. They quickly finished their meals and paid. Kurenai then led the Genin and Anko back to the training ground. The Naruto clones were still tree walking and had, on average, made it three quarters of the way up. One clone had actually finished the training and had gotten bored. She was trying to figure out how to do the exercise using her hands instead. She had already made it a meter up the tree.

"Th-this is insane!" exclaimed Anko. "No one should be able to make that many shadow clones as a Genin!"

"The scariest part is that Naruto is doing this without any help, at all. This is all natural," Kurenai stated; Anko boggled. "Naruto, how did you get that one to do that?" Kurenai asked, gesturing to the one climbing the tree on her hands. "You were with us the entire time!"

"Ano," Naruto began, "I didn't tell my kage bunshin to do anything, other than to train."

"I kn-know kage bunshin can th-think for themselves," Hinata announced, "but I d-didn't know they could show in-initiative."

"They can't," Anko said with a completely blank face. "Not unless the chakra used in their creation is more than a civilian needs to survive."

"Um," Ino interrupted, "could we possibly get to your story, Anko-san?"

"Yeah, I guess I should," the Special Jounin started. "When I was a Genin, my team's instructor was the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. We helped him with his experiments, because he claimed they were traitors and criminals. Finally, we found out the truth. He was using the villagers, innocent villagers, in his quest for immortality. The bastard then tried out a new Cursed Seal, the Heaven Seal, on me and nine others. I was the only one to survive. When Orochimaru learned that I didn't have the hate needed to activate the seal, he abandoned me." She looked at the three Genin who were staring at her with open horror in their eyes. She was about to leave when Hinata, of all people, stopped her, with a hug.

"H-how could he do that to you?" Hinata asked. "To abandon one's own pupil because she wasn't cruel enough, that's horrid!"

Ino joined the hug, adding, "Why would we hate you for following orders when you were lied to? His throwing you away like that proves you are better than that."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Naruto, as she joined the hug. "Things out of your control don't make you a bad person unless you let them."

"How? How can you just accept me like that?" Anko asked, tearing up. Her answer was in the form of tighter hugs. Hugging the three girls tightly, Anko sobbed, "Thank you. Thank you so much for accepting me."

Kurenai jumped in before things could progress even further. There was training to do, after all. "This is all very nice, and I'm glad that you're willing to learn from Anko, but we do need to train today."

"Um, Kurenai- sensei?" Naruto cut in. "Everybody needs to meet someone before we start."

"What do you mean Naruto?" Kurenai asked as everyone looked curious.

"**He means me, Kurenai-san,"** Naruto said, in a voice distinctly not his. **"I am Kyu-Ohki, the Kyuubi no Cabbit. Naruto and I agreed that his team would need to meet me before you began any serious training. Ino especially needs to meet me."**

Ino started at this revelation, and asked, "Why would I need to meet you?"

"**You are a Yamanaka, and specialize in mental techniques. If you try to enter the mind of a demon carrier, the results could be disastrous. You will need special training in case you ever encounter another."**

"I understand," Ino replied. "What do I need to do?"

Naruto answered, "You need to use your Shintenshin on me. If we can, it'd be best to get it over with."

"That's fine with me. Hinata, I want you to practice your taijutsu with Anko. You need to practice against people who do not use Juuken as well."

"Hai, Kurenai-sensei." Hinata and Anko moved into the clearing so they could work on taijutsu.

"Are you ready, Naruto?" Ino asked. When Naruto nodded, Ino put her hands into a triangular position pointing towards Naruto and shouted, "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino slumped forward like a puppet with its strings cut, and Naruto stiffened. Ino was surprised when she looked around Naruto's mind, as very few people, especially their age, had a physical representation of their mind. She noticed a large gate closed before her. She took a step towards the gate to see what lay beyond and noticed that there was stagnant water, about a centimeter deep, on the floor. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Ino shouted, "What the hell is this? Why is Naruto's mind a sewer?"

"**This is a representation of Naruto's mental state,"** a voice from behind her stated. **"I would like to thank you. Just three days ago, the water reached up to Naruto's shins. You and Hinata are slowly healing his mind, and for that, I have a gift for you. Though it is curious that you would enter the seal rather than Naruto' proper mind."**

Ino slowly turned around and noticed the huge beast standing behind her. Naturally, she panicked and stumbled back against the gate. "Wh-what are you going to do to me?"

"**Oh, calm down, Ino. If I was going to hurt you, I would have done it by now,"**Kyu-Ohki stated. **"Will you accept my gift?"**Ino could only nod mutely. **"Then come, look me in the eyes."**

Ino looked into Kyu-Ohki's red eyes and felt something change. "What did you do to me, you bastard!" she demanded angrily.

"**I have done nothing that will harm you. Indeed, it will instead help you greatly. But I think I'll allow you to find out what I did on your own. Now, I am going to try to restrain you here and I want you to try to escape as quickly as possible. Begin."** Ino immediately tried to cancel her jutsu, but Kyu-Ohki held on tight. **"You need to forcefully end your jutsu! The normal way won't work now."**

Ino desperately gathered all of her available chakra and shouted, "Kai!" Panting heavily, she found herself safely in Naruto's arms. "Yes, I made it," she said weakly before passing out.

"Damn it, Kyu! What did you do to her?" Naruto bellowed.

"**I am training her to escape from a demon. Of course it's going to make her tired. It'll get easier as she trains more."**

"Alright, Naruto," Kurenai said, "dispel your clones and join Anko and Hinata and work on your taijutsu.

"Hai," Naruto replied before she dismissed her clones. The shear shock of having over six hundred accumulated hours of chakra control training crammed into her head at once caused her to faint from the mental strain. She collapsed on top of Ino, and the two blonds squirmed around until they were both comfortable, if a little intimate. Ino had ended up sleeping on top of Naruto, their budding busts pressed together and their arms wrapped around each other.

"Damn, I forgot about that," Kurenai muttered. "I guess she'll need the rest after that. Twenty-five days of tree walking in a few seconds would knock anyone out."

Surprisingly, Anko over heard. "How the hell does that brat have so much chakra," she wondered.

* * *

(Initiate dream sequence) 

Naruto found herself in a field of flowers. "This is different," he muttered.

"Naruto?" Ino asked, from the blanket she was lying on, half nude. "Where did Sasuke go? We were just getting started!"

"What do you girls see in Sasuke, anyways?" Naruto asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Why is he so great?"

"He just is!" Ino shouted.

"When has he ever done anything nice for any of the girls chasing him?"

"What are you talking about?" Ino asked, uncertainly.

"What are you looking for in a guy?" Naruto asked. Surprisingly, neither had yet noticed Naruto's gender change. Coincidently, Naruto did not notice Ino's current state of undress while she forgot about it.

Ino thought for a moment and replied, "I'm looking for a guy who's handsome, nice, caring, intelligent, brave, and makes me feel safe."

"Sasuke is nice?" Naruto asked, incredulously. "I haven't seen it."

Ino began to get angry before she realized something. "Sasuke isn't nice, or caring," she whispered. "He only cares about getting stronger. He has never even tried to become friends with anyone." Ino began to cry, saying, "I can't believe I spent so much time chasing him."

Naruto quickly walked to Ino and hugged her from behind. Sitting down, he pulled his fellow blond into his lap to better comfort her. "It's alright, Ino-chan, I'm here for you." As he hugged her, Ino's sobs lessoned and soon they stopped, leaving Ino hiccuping in his embrace. "Ino-chan, are you feeling better now?"

The girl nodded and turned in Naruto's lap slightly, just enough for her to return his hug and rest her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Naruto. You always seem to make me feel better." They sat in silence like that for a while before Ino remembered something about Naruto. "Hey, Naruto, why do you like Sakura so much? I mean, she seems to hate you."

"I, I don't really know. I think it may have been because she didn't ignore me."

"Getting abused like that is worse than being ignored!" Ino nearly shouted. She hugged Naruto tighter and implored, "Please don't chase Sakura anymore. She isn't worth it."

"Why do you care?"

"Naruto, you are far too nice and caring to ever deserve what she does to you." Ino hugged Naruto even tighter, accidentally grinding her breasts into his chest, though neither noticed. "I'd have to say that you are at least twice the man Sasuke is, even when you're a girl."

It was right about then that Naruto noticed two things. First that he was currently male, and second that both he and Ino were not wearing anything above the waist. "Um, Ino, I think we should get up now."

Ino hugged him closer and said, "No, I'm happy right where I am."

"You do know we're both topless, right?"

Ino blinked. "We are?" Naruto nodded. "Huh, when did that happen?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I'm too comfy to move right now," Ino stated. "And I trust you."

"If you say so," Naruto relented; resigned to the beating he would receive in the near future.

"Naruto, lie down," Ino ordered after about half an hour of comfortable silence. "I want to take a nap."

"Why not just get off my lap then?"

"I told you, I'm too comfy right now. Now, lie down!"

"Fine," Naruto huffed, before lying down with Ino on top of him. "You know, this really is comfortable."

"Mmm," Ino answered, already drifting of to sleep. Naruto followed soon after.

(Terminate dream sequence)

* * *

"Are they waking up yet?" Anko asked while looking at the two sleeping blonds. 

"They've been out of it for a while, haven't they?" Kurenai replied. Hinata was propped up against a tree, too tired to show her displeasure with the current situation.

"Mmm, where am I?" Ino asked as she woke up. When she realized that she was lying on Naruto, she jumped up, blushing furiously. With a wave of relief, and some regret, she realized that she was clothed and that Naruto was still a girl. "So it was just a dream," she whispered.

When Naruto awoke a minute later, she looked around, and asked, "Ano, Ino, where did all the flowers go?"

"Wait," Ino said, in a near panic. "What type of flowers were they?"

"How would I know? There were mostly pink, yellow, and blue ones, though."

"How is this possible?" Ino started, shivering. Naruto immediately wrapped her in a comforting hug. "That is the same setting as my dream."

"What happened in your dream," Kurenai asked.

"Well, at first I was with Sasuke, but then he disappeared and Naruto showed up. He asked why I liked Sasuke and led me to realize that Sasuke isn't worth loving. Then he comforted me while I cried. We then lay down and went to sleep. That's all I remember." The blush on her face, however, said otherwise.

"Hey!" shouted Naruto. "That is about the same as my dream, except we ended up topless and you got me to see that Sakura doesn't deserve my love either!"

Realization hit both at the same time and they growled, "Kyu-Ohki, what did you do?"

"**It's simple, really."** The cabbit stated. **"I just initiated a mental link between Ino and myself. Since Naruto and I have a mental link already, Ino was also mentally linked to her. They just had a shared dream."**

"What?!" demanded Hinata. "That isn't fair! I demand you give me a link as well!"

"**And why should I?"**

"It would greatly increase our teamwork," Hinata stated, grasping at straws.

"**While that is very true, why should I initiate the link? Naruto could do it just as easily."**

"I can?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"**Yes, you just needed to learn enough chakra control first. The tree walking exercise was enough."**

"Alright," Naruto said, as he could easily see the tactical advantage this would provide, while completely forgetting about the already revealed side effects. "What do I need to do?"

"**You need to maintain eye contact and perform these seals: ram, rabbit, dragon, and boar. That sets up the preliminary connection, allowing you to ask permission to establish a permanent connection. Unfortunately, that is all you can do. If the person agrees, the link is immediately formed, if not, nothing happens,"** Kyu-Ohki explained. **"After the connection is formed, you'll only need to think towards the person you want to communicate with. The link is passive, so it won't use any chakra after it is established."**

"Are you sure you want to do this, Hinata," Kurenai asked. Hinata nodded firmly. "In that case, I will not try to stop you."

"Ram, rabbit, dragon, boar," Naruto chanted while staring into Hinata's eyes. "Do you accept?"

"Hai." With that, the connection was made. _"So all we do is think towards each other?" _Hinata mentally asked towards both Naruto and Ino.

"_Seems about right,"_ Ino commented back, through their link.

"_**You two have caught on exceedingly quickly,"**_ Kyu-Ohki commented, only to Ino and Hinata.

"I could hear Kyu-Ohki," both girls told the group.

"This is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed aloud.

"At least this will save on the expense of radios," Anko said dryly.

"If Ino and Naruto shared a dream already, what will happen with more people linked?" Kurenai asked. The two blonds paled while Hinata smiled happily.

"It almost looks like Hinata was counting on sharing Naruto's dreams," Anko said slyly. Hinata only blushed while retaining a brilliant smile.

"Well, Naruto and Ino slept the afternoon away, so I suppose I should let you go now. I'll see you here at the same time tomorrow. Dismissed."

The three Genin split up, with each heading towards their respective houses for the night. Naruto made herself a meal of ramen and promised to get some better food as soon as she could. Hinata sat with her family for an overly formal meal that started and ended in silence. Ino's meal, on the other hand, was quite animated.

* * *

"How was your day, dear," Nodoka asked after the family 

"Very tiring," she admitted. "Learning how to escape from a demon in the mental world takes a lot out of you."

"What?!" Inoichi demanded. "I thought you said Naruto was safe to be around!"

"He is. His 'friend' is just teaching me how to defend myself in case I ever try to use Shintenshin on another container," Ino explained calmly. "He didn't do anything to me."

"Did anything else interesting happen today?" Nodoka asked.

"Well, Kurenai-sensei found someone to help us with our taijutsu and ninjutsu, since she's a genjutsu specialist."

"Really? Who?" asked Inoichi, wondering who would give up their time to help train Genin other than the Jounin-sensei.

"Mitarashi Anko," Ino answered quickly.

Inoichi sighed, "I should have realized that Kurenai would ask Anko. They are good friends, after all. Just be careful around her, okay?"

"Why? Because she was tricked by Orochimaru?" Ino demanded angrily.

"So she told you about that, eh?" Inoichi shook his head sadly. "No, I don't hold that against her. The reason I want you to be careful around her is that she is a little… excitable when it comes to blood." He shivered. "It's down right creepy at times."

"Alright, Dad, I'll be careful."

"Honey," Nodoka began, "Your father and I thought that you could ask your teammates over for dinner tomorrow."

"Hmm, Hinata would probably need to ask her father tonight. Give me a minute please," Ino requested before zoning out. _"Hey, Hinata, Naruto, you there?"_ she asked through the ever convenient mental link.

"_Hai,"_ Hinata responded from the Hyuuga complex.

"_I'm here, Ino-chan,"_ Naruto answered from his apartment.

"_My parents want to know if you would like to come over for dinner tomorrow night."_

"_I'll be happy to come!"_ Naruto exclaimed, adding a mental image of pumping his fist.

"_I'll be happy to come as well."_ Hinata added quickly, not wanting Naruto to spend anymore time alone with Ino.

"_Wow, I didn't know we could send ideas as well!" _Ino mentally exclaimed excitedly. _"This is so cool!"_

"Ino! Ino!" Nodoka almost shouted. "Are you all right? You just zoned out for a minute there."

"I did? I guess I need to work on that," Ino stated verbally. "Anyways, both Naruto and Hinata can come."

"Wait," Inoichi started, "when did you ask?"

"Oops," Ino said bashfully, "I forgot you didn't know about that. Naruto and Kyu-Ohki set up some sort of a mental network between them, Hinata, and me."

"Who is this Kyu-Ohki?" Inoichi demanded.

"Eh heh heh," Ino laughed nervously. "Kyu-Ohki is the Kyuubi." Inoichi and Nodoka looked ready to grab torches and form a mob, so Ino tried to diffuse the situation, "It's perfectly safe! Mom, Dad, you don't need to worry. The mental links only allow communication. Kyu-Ohki can't do anything to me."

"Alright Ino, if you're sure it's safe, we'll be fine with it" Nodoka said, as the first to calm down sufficiently. "Is there anything else we should know about?" Ino just blushed and shook her head.

"Are Kurenai and Anko going to come as well?" Inoichi asked.

"I don't know. They aren't part of the mental link, so I can't just ask them," Ino stated. "I'll ask them when I see them tomorrow. May I be excused? I'd like to get to bed so I'll be ready for tomorrow's training."

"All right, dear," Nodoka said. "Go get a good night's sleep."

"I will Mom." Ino walked to her room and got in bed. Moments later, she was asleep and immersed in a nightmare.

* * *

(Initiating dream sequence) 

It was dark, very dark, all except for the torches carried by some of the villagers. In the background, Ichiraku Ramen was burning. "What the hell is this?" Ino practically screamed. The mob of villagers parted slightly, showing Naruto curled protectively around Hinata as several of the villagers beat them. "What the hell are you doing?" Ino demanded. "Leave them alone!"

"Look, it's another of the demon's bitches!" a villager screamed, thrusting his torch in Ino's direction. "Let's get her, too!" Several of the villagers grabbed Ino and threw her into the center of the mob and began beating her along with Hinata and Naruto.

Naruto latched onto Ino and dragged her into his protective embrace alongside Hinata. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he muttered each time one of the girls was struck.

"Hinata!" Ino shouted. "This is Naruto's nightmare! We need to end it, quickly!"

"But it feels so real!" Hinata cried as she tried to protect herself and Naruto.

"Maybe we can get out of this if we work together," Ino suggested. "Think about the training ground!" Both girls concentrated on the training grounds and slowly the villagers and the burning ramen stand faded away, leaving the three Genin in the middle of their training field.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked as the assault ceased.

"We're sharing our dreams again," Ino supplied. "You were having a nightmare, and Hinata wasn't expecting it, so she thought it was real, or her dream, or something. I realized what was going on, so I told her to think of here. The two of us were enough to overcome your nightmare."

"How often do you have nightmares, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, concerned for Naruto's well being.

"Unless I pass out from exhaustion, almost every night," Naruto admitted. "Earlier today and last night were two of the best dreams I have ever had."

"But we just sat there and talked for most of it!" Ino protested.

"Exactly," Naruto admitted. "Most of my dreams are about being alone or having the villagers beat me."

"That's horrible!" Ino exclaimed. "What was different this afternoon?

"Ino, you were already asleep then," Hinata pointed out. "Naruto-kun entered your dream, without realizing it."

"So Naruto was the first to fall asleep tonight?" Ino asked.

"It seems likely," Hinata answered. "Most of my dreams are either very pleasant or involve Hyuuga family politics."

"So what should we do then?" Naruto asked. "I don't want you two to suffer any more of my nightmares!"

"Well, making sure you fall asleep after at least one of us does could work," Ino suggested. "I could probably get my parents to call you after I'm asleep, though we'd have to explain why."

"That could work," Hinata admitted, sad that she could not offer the same. The Council would never allow it.

"So, what should we do for the rest of the dream?" Naruto asked.

"Since we will be eating over Ino's tomorrow," Hinata suggested, "we could teach Naruto-kun proper manners."

"That is a good idea," Ino replied, smiling. "I doubt anyone has taught him any before."

"Hey! That isn't my fault!" Naruto protested.

"We weren't saying it was, Naruto," Ino soothed. "But it is the truth. Now, we should start with basic table manners." After a few moments of concentration on Ino's part, a table with a simple meal appeared in the clearing. "The first lesson is sitting properly. You should sit up straight and look forward, with your napkin in your lap.

The lesson continued through the whole night, with both Hinata and Ino acting as an example and explaining proper social behavior in ways Naruto could more easily understand. By the time the three awoke in the morning, Naruto was ready for even a casual meal in the Hyuuga complex, which equated to a semi-formal meal for normal people.

(Terminating dream sequence)

* * *

When the three Genin arrived at the training field, they found both Kurenai and Anko waiting. Ino, remembering the conversation with her parents the night before, quickly said, "Kurenai-sensei, Anko-sensei, my parents would like you to join us for dinner tonight. Naruto and Hinata are already coming." 

"Sure, I'll come," Anko replied, secretly overjoyed at being invited to anything. True, most of the village did not hate her, but the majority still feared her.

"I'll come as well," Kurenai stated. "I need to speak to Inoichi about training Ino anyways." Addressing the entire group, Kurenai announced the plans for the day, "We will not be taking a mission today. Instead, Ino and Hinata will be working on their taijutsu and ninjutsu with Anko."

"What about me?" Naruto demanded.

"You will be accompanying me to the library. Your less than stellar education has been brought to my attention and I intend to rectify this deficiency. Let's get started. We will meet at the Barbecue at twelve for lunch. Begin." Kurenai started leading Naruto off towards the library.

"All right, girls, get ready!" Anko shouted gleefully. "Ino, you will be learning my style of taijutsu, as it is very powerful at close range, and that is where you are weakest. Hinata, I want you to learn at least one D-rank ninjutsu from this scroll by lunch." She handed Hinata the scroll.

"Anko-sensei," Hinata began. "The Hyuuga C-Council will not approve of me learning any n-ninjutsu not required by the academy."

"Is that a problem?" Anko asked with a wicked grin on her face.

"N-no, sensei!" Hinata quickly answered.

"Good girl. Now get to work!" Hinata began reading the scroll while Ino began the basics of Anko's style of taijutsu.

* * *

When Kurenai and Naruto reached the library, they entered with surprising ease, though that may have been because of the genjutsu Kurenai used on the librarian, making him think that the Hokage himself had escorted them there. "Now, Naruto," Kurenai said, "I want you to make as many kage bunshin as you can, without help, and have them all start reading. I also want you to join them until lunch time. At that time, one of your Kage Bunshin is to henge into me and watch over the others while we go to eat lunch. You are to maintain all of your shadow clones until you are ready to sleep, at which point you will dispel them all. This way, we can get the most out of a single day. I suggest starting with the laws and history of the village before moving on to any jutsu. Those can come later; I want to increase your overall knowledge first. Also have some read up on math and physics; it will help you later. Understand?" 

"Hai. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two hundred twenty Kage Bunshin popped into existence. They immediately split up, heading to the different sections of the library. Sixty began reading the village laws; another sixty began reading its history; yet another eighty split themselves between mathematics and physics, while the final twenty began reading about the history and politics of the other villages. "Can I go read some jutsu scrolls?" the original Naruto asked.

Figuring that the clones would be enough for now, Kurenai answered, "Sure, but keep them bellow C-rank and no practicing them. Just read them. You can practice later." With that the final Naruto ran off to the jutsu section happily. "That kid is going to have an insane headache tonight," the Jounin stated with a smirk. Pulling out a book on the history of genjutsu, she began to read, only paying the slightest bit of attention to the two hundred twenty-one Naruto.

Four hours passed quickly passed and it was almost time for lunch. Naruto motioned to one of the shadow clones and she came over to Kurenai. One henge later and there were two Kurenai. The real Kurenai handed the double her book and then left the library with Naruto in tow. They quickly made their way to the Barbecue stand and met up with the rest of their team. "Yo," Anko greeted the pair as the entered. "How many clones did she pull off this time?" she asked, already forgetting Naruto's true gender. No one caught her slip.

"I made two hundred and twenty," Naruto announced proudly. "And Kurenai-sensei wants me to maintain them until I go to bed."

"Naruto, what time do you usually go to sleep?" Ino asked nervously.

"Well, I usually go to sleep around nine o'clock, but after last night, I think that I'm going to wait until eleven. Why did you want to know, Ino?"

"Hang on a second, Naruto. Two hundred twenty clones, times fifteen and a half hours is three thousand four hundred ten hours. Divided by twenty-four hours to a day… Naruto! You are going to cram over a hundred and forty days of reading into a few seconds! Are you insane?!"

"That is a lot of reading," Anko commented.

"Oh, I'll be fine," Naruto assured the group. "All I'll need is a good night's rest, right Kurenai-sensei?"

"I hope," Kurenai said under her breath. Out loud, she said, "Of course, Naruto. I'm sure you'll be fine. There is nothing to worry about." Mollified by their teacher's confidence, the Genin continued their meal.

"What are we doing after lunch?" Hinata asked.

"Well," Kurenai started, "Ino will be finishing her tree walking and Naruto will be working on his taijutsu with Anko. I am going to set up a special targeting scroll I convinced your father to give me so you can improve your reaction time."

"My father?" Hinata asked, surprised.

"Yes. He said I could do anything I want with your training, and handed me the scroll when I asked."

"A-anything you want? What about the C-council?" Hinata asked fearfully.

"I think that the Hyuuga clan has given up on you," Kurenai stated sadly. "I doubt that they would care if you died."

"That's horrible!" Ino shouted.

"Those bastards," Naruto said angrily.

Hinata hung her head and all but whispered, "I refuse to go all out on my little sister, so they see me as weak. I'm surprised they haven't sent me to the Branch house yet."

"Hey, Hinata, why don't you practice on me?" Naruto suggested. "We already know that Juuken doesn't really work on me, so you don't have to worry about it. What do you say?"

"How do you know that Juuken doesn't work on you, Naruto?" Kurenai demanded.

"The Council ordered the Branch family to 'protect' me from Naruto at all costs," Hinata said, angry once more. "On our mission yesterday, one of the Branch members attacked Naruto and closed sixty four of her tenketsu. Naruto used his second chakra system to unseal them."

"Second chakra system," Anko and Kurenai mouthed in disbelief.

"It's for my 'special' chakra," Naruto admitted.

"Ah," Kurenai said in understanding. "Now, since we've finished our meal, let's head back to the training grounds." The team rose from their seats, paid for their meals, and headed back to the training grounds.

"So, Hinata," Anko finally asked. "What D-rank ninjutsu did you learn?"

"I learned Kage Shuriken no Jutsu," Hinata stated.

"Well, that's a good start," Anko admitted, "though it barely counts as ninjutsu. Why not try learning a Doton technique. Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu is a good one. Even though you primarily use Juuken, an underground attack is often very helpful. Even experienced shinobi seldom look down for an attack."

"Hai, Anko-sensei," Hinata answered before turning back to her scroll.

"Ino, resume your tree climbing please," Kurenai asked. Ino nodded and began, easily making it to the top of the tree. "Good. Now, I want you to continue climbing up and down that tree until you are too tired to continue."

"Naruto, get over here," Anko ordered. "It's time you learned something better than the brawler version of the academy's taijutsu you use now."

"Hai, Anko-sensei." From there, it was mostly a repeat of Ino's training, only significantly rougher, as Naruto could handle much more than the other blond could.

Hinata's training consisted of spreading the special scroll on a tree and hitting the small flashes of chakra a quickly as possible. The exercise was meant to increase speed as well as accuracy when using the Byakugan. At one point, Anko looked over and, after recalling her training with the girl, noticed two severe weaknesses in the style. "Naruto, rest for a minute. I have to ask Hinata a few questions." As Naruto slumped to the ground gratefully, Anko made her way over to Hinata. "Hinata, what would you do if both of your arms were broken?"

"What do you mean, Anko-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Juuken seems to concentrate solely on using the palms of the hands. Can you continue to fight without your hands? Or if the tenketsu in your arms were blocked?"

Hinata looked at Anko in shock for several seconds before replying, "I c-can't believe no one in the Hyuuga family has n-never noticed that before."

"That is because most Hyuuga are too arrogant to look for any flaws in their 'perfect' style," Anko scoffed. "Even the Branch members have a superiority complex. In fact, you are the only Hyuuga I can remember actually being humble enough to even consider listening to someone else's suggestions. We are going to have to work some form of kicks into the style as well as teach you some normal taijutsu in case you ever can't use your chakra."

"Hai," Hinata agreed. She returned to her training while Anko walked back to Naruto to continue her training.

Several hours later, at around six o'clock, the training was done for the day. Kurenai turned to her team, and said, "Good work, everyone. We'll take another mission tomorrow before moving on to water-walking. Naruto still needs more chakra control before he can even attempt to return to normal. On that note, I suggest you all wear bathing suits tomorrow, so you don't get your normal clothing soaked."

"Um, sensei," Naruto interjected. "My swimsuits won't work anymore."

"Hmm, good point," Kurenai conceded. "Ino, Hinata, do either of you have swimsuit Naruto can borrow for tomorrow?" Both girls blushed at the thought.

"Er, I should have something that will fit," Ino admitted, leaving out the fact that it was something she bought to try and seduce Sasuke with. "Um, it's about dinner time, so we should probably head over to my house now."

"True enough," Kurenai stated. "Well, lead the way." Ino lead the group back to her mother's flower shop and up into the house proper.

"Mom, we're here," Ino called.

"Alright, honey," Nodoka called back from the kitchen. "Dinner is almost ready, so wash up."

Ino led her team to the bathroom, where they took turns washing their hands and such. She then led them to the dining room where they all say at the table. Anko and Kurenai were surprised when Naruto sat properly, without slouching or facing away from the table. "When did you learn manners?" Kurenai asked.

"Last night, while I was asleep," Naruto answered.

"Shared dreams, got to love them," Ino quipped. Hinata just bobbed her head happily.

"Hello, everyone," Inoichi said as he entered the dining room. "I am Ino's father, Inoichi."

Kurenai smiled, and said, "I am Ino's primary sensei, Kurenai. This is our supplementary instructor, Anko. These are your daughter's teammates, Hinata and Naruto."

Inoichi's eyes widened when he saw Naruto, and he shouted, "What is the meaning of this? Is this some kind of a joke? Uzumaki Naruto is definitely male, yet you say this girl is him? Who is she really?" Nodoka came rushing out of the kitchen when her husband had started shouting, so she was there to hear the response.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," the girl stated, her eyes downcast. "I will leave now if you don't want a monster like me eating with you." As Naruto got up to leave, Ino grabbed her hand and prevented her from exiting the dining room.

"I thought you said you wanted my team to come over for dinner," Ino accused her father. "Was that just a lie?"

Inoichi immediately calmed down at his daughters reaction. "I apologize for my outburst. Naruto, you are welcome to stay. I was just expecting to meet a boy, not a girl," Inoichi stated. "When I overheard Kurenai yesterday, I thought she was exaggerating your situation. It appears that I was wrong." He bowed his head and continued, "I am also sorry for keeping Ino away from you. I now realize that I had been judging you unfairly. I now see that you would have been a great friend for Ino."

"I am sorry as well," Nodoka added. "I should have known better than to listen to the villagers instead of to Hokage-sama. You really are a hero."

Inoichi, his head bowed in shame, finished, "It took us two days to come to terms with the truth, and that is unacceptable.

"Thank you," Naruto said with tears running down her cheeks. "You don't know what that means to me."

"Oh!" Nodoka exclaimed, "I need to go get dinner. I'll be right back." She headed back into the kitchen and came back with the food. As they ate, all of the adults were surprised with Naruto's table manners. While she did eat several times as much as anyone else, she managed to be polite about it.

"So, how is your training going?" Inoichi asked the Genin.

"I'm reading most of the library," Naruto admitted with a blush.

"Won't that take up most of your time for the next few years?" Nodoka asked.

"Kage Bunshin really are great time savers," Anko replied with a smirk.

"How many are you using, Naruto?" Inoichi asked, somewhat surprised at that revelation. "Two? Three? Maybe even five?"

"Um," Naruto started nervously, "two hundred and twenty, and they're still reading right now."

"Two-two hundred and twenty!" Inoichi exclaimed. "That's insane! Assuming you survive using that much chakra continuously for any length of time, the mental feedback could fry your brain!"

"What!" Naruto, Hinata, and Ino shouted, glaring at Kurenai.

"Heh heh heh," Kurenai laughed nervously, "I'm sure she can handle it. She'll only need a really good night's sleep. I'd say about eight hours should be good."

"But Kurenai-sensei, it's already almost nine already!" Ino protested. "And either Hinata or I need to fall asleep before Naruto does!"

"And why is that?" Inoichi asked.

"Um," Ino tried to think of a reasonable excuse but failed. "We have shared dreams, and Naruto has a lot of nightmares. When we go to sleep, we enter the dream of whoever fell asleep first. The dreams are really hard to alter, and it took both Hinata and I to overcome Naruto's nightmare last night."

"I want to see this effect," Inoichi stated. As a shinobi specializing in mental techniques, the idea of a shared dream was a professional curiosity. "Naruto, Hinata, could you two please stay over tonight? I would really like to see this, and I could monitor Naruto's mental health when she releases her Kage Bunshin."

"Sure," Naruto said. "It isn't like I have anyone to go home to."

"L-let me just call and let my family know, so they don't st-start looking for me." Hinata added. At Nodoka's nod, she went over to the telephone and informed the Branch member who answered of her plans for the night.

"You can all sleep in Ino's room," Nodoka suggested. "It'll be more comfortable there, and you are all girls, at the moment, so there is nothing to worry about. I knew we got her that king sized bed for a reason."

The three girls laughed nervously and made their way to Ino's bedroom. Naruto considerately kept her eyes averted while Ino and Hinata prepared for bed. When the two girls were ready and under the covers of the bed, Naruto quickly changed and slid in as well. "So, whose dream should we start with this time?" Naruto asked.

Ino replied, "Well, I still need to practice getting out of your head, so I'd say mine, unless Hinata falls asleep before we finish."

"Well, we might as well get started then," Naruto stated.

Ino nodded and got into a familiar stance. With a cry of, "Shintenshin!" she collapsed against the bed and entered Naruto's mind. As they waited, Hinata got a naughty idea and promptly pressed her own sleep point, ensuring that it would be her dream the trio entered. She soon wormed her way under the covers towards the nearest source of warmth. Since Ino was situated in the middle of her bed, she became Hinata's makeshift teddy bear. Naruto, who was lying back and thinking about the day's events did not notice Hinata's move.

Inside the seal within Naruto's mind, Ino called, "Alright, Kyu-Ohki! I'm ready to train!"

The large form of the demon cabbit loomed out of the shadows, and simply said, **"Begin."** He immediately began to hold Ino in place while she began gathering chakra.

"Kai!" Ino shouted when she felt enough chakra had been gathered. When she did not return to her body, she gathered even more chakra before shouting, "Kai!" This time she made it back to her body. As she fell asleep from the mental exhaustion, she felt warmth close on one side, and further away on the other. Groping blindly for the warmth that was further away from her, she dragged Naruto over to her.

At the same time as Ino started pulling her, Naruto was dispelling her Kage Bunshin. As over one hundred twenty days worth of reading was dumped in her head, Naruto passed out. Her body instinctively moved towards the source of warmth. After a few minutes of squirming, the three girls were tangled in a very intimate embrace with Naruto on the bottom, despite her being the smallest of the girls. Inoichi looked into the room, saw the position the three girls were in, and walked away shaking his head, wondering if this had really been a good idea.

* * *

(Initiating dream sequence) 

Naruto and Ino appeared in the dreamscape at almost the exact same time. Naruto was, once again, male, but at least he noticed this time. The two blonds looked around and noticed Hinata sitting on her bed pouting. "Oi, Hinata-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"When you two arrived, all of the other Naruto vanished," Hinata admitted sadly. "I miss all the Naruto-kun and Naruto-chan, and the furry ones were so cute!"

"Um, Hinata," Ino began, while backing away from the bluette. "You're a little scary right now."

"Naruto-kun and Naruto-chan?" asked Naruto, also slightly nervous.

"Hai."

"Furry, Naruto, eh?" Ino asked. "That would be interesting." As Ino began to think of Naruto with cabbit features, her thoughts synced with Hinata's, overriding Naruto's perception of himself, causing him to become Naruto, the cabbit boy. "Kawaii!" Ino exclaimed. Both she and Hinata caught the long eared, furred Naruto in a flying tackle-glomp. "And we can make him turn into a girl as well?" Ino asked. Hinata nodded and soon Naruto the cabbit girl was being hugged by the pair.

"What would you two look like furry?" Naruto asked, pouting. Seconds later, three cabbit girls sat on the bed as they imagined each other as cabbit girls. "All we need now are some carrots," Naruto commented. Again, in mere seconds the scene changed as a bowl of carrots appeared. The three girls began snacking on the carrots as they talked.

"Did you learn anything interesting in the library, Naruto?" Ino asked.

"Hai, Ino-chan. There is a certain law that Sasuke had better hope his fangirls never learn about.

As an ex-fangirl, Ino was naturally curious. "What law is that?"

"The Advanced Bloodline Preservation Act, enacted under the Sandaime's first term, requires any male member with a sufficiently rare kekkei genkai to practice polygamy in an effort to ensure that it won't die out," Naruto explained.

"Didn't you say you had a new kekkei genkai, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked while sharing a look with Ino.

"Yes; what are you getting at, Hinata-chan?"

As a response, both Hinata and Ino jumped on Naruto again and exclaimed, "You're ours now!" They then descended into rather creepy perverted giggling and began taking turns kissing Naruto. Naruto tried to fight them off at first, but then gave in and returned the kisses. Soon the three girls, as Naruto had not been returned to normal yet, were as tangled in their dream as they were in real life. They soon fell asleep, cuddling each other like the furry cabbit girls they were.

(Terminate dream sequence)


	3. Demon Spawn

Kyuubi no Cabbit

Chapter 3: Demon-spawn

Part of this chapter was borrowed from S'Tarkan's Team 8. Other parts were more than likely borrowed through source amnesia. As such, nothing belongs to me, probably not even my original ideas. As a minor note, this story has surpassed my other story in every category except number of chapters and reviews. It is already longer than Redheads and Succubi, so the first is not a concern, and the second is up to you, the readers. Thanks to deitarion/SSokolow for being my beta reader.

* * *

"Girls, it's time to get up," Nodoka called from the doorway. The three girls rolled away from one another and sat up in the bed. 

"Eh? Why am I sticky?" Naruto asked, causing the other girls in the bed to become mortified. Luckily, Nodoka had already left and had not heard Naruto's question.

"Come on, Naruto, we need to get ready to go," Ino said quickly, dodging the question for the moment. She pushed Naruto into the bathroom and said, "You shower first, and hurry!" After the bathroom door was closed and the water in the shower was running, Ino turned to Hinata and asked, "How did he spend an accumulated one hundred twenty some odd days in a library and never read about human anatomy?"

"I have no idea," Hinata admitted. She then asked, "Are you really willing to share Naruto-kun?"

"If the other option is to not have him at all? Definitely." After a moment, Ino continued, "If Naruto hadn't asked me what I wanted in a guy, I would have never even considered him. I want a nice, caring, brave, handsome, intelligent guy who makes me feel safe. Naruto is very kind and caring, no one can deny that. He is also handsome, in a wild, animalistic way. His intelligence might be lacking at the moment, but we can work on that. Though the one thing that really attracts me to him is how safe he makes me feel. I've never felt safer than when he held me in his arms during our first dream."

"Good," Hinata said. "I'd rather share him than lose him as well. Let's just try to keep the number of girls after him down, ne?"

"Hai," Ino agreed. Soon Naruto was done in the shower and Hinata and Ino prepared for the day.

As the three girls were eating breakfast, Inoichi came in with a cup of tea and asked, "So, how was the dream last night, girls?" The only answer he received was a set of blushes. "I figured as much. So, Naruto, you aren't a vegetable, right?"

"No, sir, I'm fine now," Naruto replied.

"Good, good. I wouldn't want my daughter to have to find a new man already," Inoichi replied with a smirk. Three girls immediately started coughing. "Oh, and Hinata, you might want to learn how to not talk in your sleep." As the girls turned an even brighter red, Inoichi laughed and left to get to work. The girls quickly finished their meals and left to the training ground.

"Ah, Naruto, it's good to see your brain wasn't fried," Kurenai said merrily as the Genin approached. Naruto just glared at her.

"So, how was your night?" Anko asked.

"Pretty nice," Naruto admitted. "Though I would like to know why I woke up sticky." The girls were but a second too late in covering Naruto's mouth, allowing the two instructors to hear the question.

"I'm not answering that," Anko stated. "Go make some clones and have them read up on anatomy and human physiology in the library."

"Hai!" Naruto said before following the not quite orders. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" One hundred clones appeared and stampeded to the library, the original leading the charge.

"Oh no," Kurenai moaned softly. "Anko, you may have just created a monster pervert."

"If he becomes a pervert, we'll just beat it out of him," Ino said firmly. Hinata nodded savagely in agreement.

"Well, the next mission is to deliver groceries to an old woman, who I know lost her husband and sons to the Kyuubi, so it may be for the best if Naruto isn't with us," Kurenai admitted. "Besides, she doesn't want much, so we can easily handle it."

In the library, one hundred one Naruto were pouring over every book regarding anatomy they could find. They read everything from medical papers to textbooks, and the original found a little orange book, called "Icha Icha Paradise". She got about two pages in before she started to turn green and had to put the book down. She might have made it further into the book had it not been for the inclusion of a blond haired female, whose personality struck just a little too close to home for the misgendered shinobi.

After an hour of mass reading, Kurenai arrived at the library. When she saw a flash or orange darker than Naruto's jumpsuit next to the girl, she became enraged. Marching over to Naruto, she grabbed onto her collar and dragged the girl outside and into an alley. "What were you doing reading that book?" she demanded.

"What book?" Naruto asked, as she had been reading a book on medicinal plants when Kurenai grabbed her.

"That orange piece of trash! Why were you reading it?" Kurenai clarified angrily.

"Well, it was in the anatomy section, so I thought it might help," Naruto explained. She began to shiver as she continued, " Oh, Kami! I only read two pages before I couldn't take anymore." Here Naruto began to sob lightly. "How could anyone do that to a girl? It was horrible!" Naruto broke down and clamped onto Kurenai, crying into her arm. She was lucky she chose the arm, because Kurenai had been expecting Naruto's reaction to be an act so Naruto could rub against her chest. Kurenai, having once started reading that evil orange book before realizing what it contained, knew that even the first two pages could scar the unprepared. She just hoped Naruto would not be permanently scarred.

"Come on Naruto, it's time to go to the hot springs. We're going to be working on water walking there. Don't worry, Anko and I won't let anything happen to you." Still sniffling slightly, Naruto nodded, though she did not loosen her grip on Kurenai's arm. Still, she followed Kurenai to the springs all the same.

"What happened?" Anko asked, as soon as she saw Naruto's condition.

"Someone slipped a little orange book into the anatomy section of the library. The first chapter involves a blond girl with two ponytails."

"Oh," Anko said quietly. She walked over to Naruto and gave her a hug. "Don't worry; we'll keep the perverts away from you."

"What's wrong?" Ino asked, rushing towards her future husband.

"I-I c-can't b-believe wh-what t-the S-sexy no J-jutsu m-made th-those p-perverts w-want to do," Naruto sobbed, traumatized by her own jutsu.

"It'll be alright, Naruto-kun," Hinata soothed, as she and Ino joined the group hug.

"Now, if Naruto has calmed down enough, you should go change and meet us back out here," Kurenai said, spoiling the tender moment.

"Um, Kurenai-sensei, where should Naruto change?" Ino asked. "I'm pretty sure most of the villagers will recognize him, even if he is a girl, and we can't make him use the men's side."

"Well, I could set up a genjutsu to hide him while he changes," Kurenai suggested. "Will that work, Naruto?" Naruto nodded and the group separated so the Genin could get changed. Ino only hoped that her choice of a swimsuit to lend to Naruto wouldn't lead to any problems.

After everyone had changed into their swimwear, they gathered around one of the springs. Hinata was wearing a rather conservative light purple one-piece that still managed to flatter her figure. Ino was wearing a much more daring one-piece that had holes in both sides. Naruto was in a two-piece that greatly flattered her body, much to her chagrin.

"Alright," Anko began, "we're here so you can learn water walking. The reason we teach it here is that the water will act as an incentive to learn quickly. This particular spring is the hottest, at sixty degrees centigrade. If you fall in, it will hurt. Now, there are two ways to do water walking. The first, and incorrect, method is to extend a pillar of chakra from your foot to the bottom of the spring. The problem with this is that depth can be a problem. The further you need to go to reach the bottom, the more chakra you need to use. The proper method is to create a platform of chakra under your feet that will support your weight. Alright, begin!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called out, creating an additional one hundred clones.

"Why did you make so many?" Kurenai asked. "They won't all fit on the springs."

"I know that," stated Naruto. "I wanted to continue the tree walking using my hands. It's harder than it looks. I need to move the chakra differently in my hands then in the rest of my arms so I can stay straight."

"That's not even a standard chakra exercise for Jounin!" Anko exclaimed. "Kid, you are going to have amazing chakra control soon."

"I need to if I ever want to get back to normal!"

For the next few hours, the Genin practiced their water walking. Hinata caught on almost right away and could keep herself afloat easily, even if she had a hard time walking without bobbing with each step. Ino was the next to get the concept down, and was slowly working on walking. Naruto was taking the longest to learn the basic concept, but the first clone that did learned a mode of transportation very quickly, by using the chakra platforms as skates instead of trying to walk.

Kurenai chose to comment on this, saying, "That is very inventive, Naruto, but you need to walk to get the proper control." It was then that she realized the time and called a break for lunch. "Now, because you are all in swimsuits, and I didn't want to waste time changing, Anko and I bought you lunch and brought it with us." She handed out the lunches and everyone sat down to eat and watch the clones work.

"Wow; that one's made it halfway up that tree already!" Ino exclaimed, pointing to one of the tree walking clones.

"Yeah, she always seems to be the smartest," Naruto added.

"You can tell your clones apart?" Anko asked.

"You mean I shouldn't be able to?" Naruto asked. "They all seem to have slightly different personalities, and I can create whatever ones I want."

"You really are something else, kid," Anko stated. "I've never heard of shadow clones behaving like that before."

"Heh heh, thanks," Naruto said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Alright," Kurenai declared once everyone had finished eating. "Get back to work!" The Genin got up and continued their training. "I can't wait until these kids finally get fed up with the D-rank missions," Kurenai stated quietly to Anko. "They have what it takes to become great kunoichi. I mean shinobi. On second thought, I don't want to have to deal with the sleeping arrangements."

"If I can, I think I'll join you guys. You are much better company than most of my teams," Anko decided. "I don't even care if I get paid for it. Just being there will be worth it. These kids are the best entertainment I've had in ages."

The two kunoichi watched the Genin for another hour or so as they perfected the water walking. Naruto was very close while Ino and Hinata had it down perfectly when Kurenai called them over. "I think that now is a good time to teach you how to dispel genjutsu. There are two methods to do so. Neither one is better than the other; one just works better for an individual than the other would. The first method is to momentarily stop the circulation of chakra in your coils so the genjutsu loses its anchor. This will only work if the genjutsu is anchored on you, and is not anchored to something else. The second way is to create a chakra pulse of sufficient strength to overwhelm the genjutsu. This method is impossible if you don't have enough chakra to overcome the genjutsu."

"I'd like you to try the first method now. Form a ram seal and say 'Kai!' while stilling your chakra." She watched as each of the Genin did as they were told. "Hinata, Ino, very good. Naruto, you were close, but didn't quite manage to do it. You can practice later. Now I want you to try the other method. Gather chakra in your navel with the ram seal and compress it as tightly as you can. When it is as tight as possible, shout 'Kai!' and release the chakra all at once." Once again, she watched as Hinata and Ino attempted the maneuver. When Naruto began to gather her chakra, Kurenai instantly knew that it would not end well. "Naruto! Stop! You're using too much chakra!"

Alas, she was a second too late as Naruto shouted, "Kai!" The tightly compacted chakra expanded from her in a barely visible blue sphere. The sphere reached a height of ten meters before flattening out, expanding outwards for nearly one kilometer in every direction, canceling every genjutsu in its wake.

"Well, ANBU should be here in a few seconds," Anko commented, cheerfully.

"At least it knocked out all of those frivolous cosmetic techniques," Kurenai muttered.

"What is the problem here?" asked an ANBU wearing a hawk mask.

"Nothing. I was just teaching my students how to dispel genjutsu. One of them just used a little too much chakra," Kurenai explained.

"What Genin would possibly have enough chakra to manage that?"

"Well, when she made far fewer Kage Bunshin today than she did yesterday, it isn't all that hard," Anko replied with a smirk.

"Kage Bunshin?!" the ANBU exclaimed. He looked around and finally noticed all of the Naruto still training. "How many can she make?"

"Well, she made two hundred two days ago and two hundred twenty yesterday, so I honestly don't know," admitted Anko, happily. "I'm pretty sure she can make even more now, considering she maintained those two hundred and twenty clones for over twelve hours." At this revelation, the ANBU just shook his head in shock and walked away, not even capable of disappearing properly at the moment.

"Well, I think that we've done enough training on dispelling genjutsu for the time being," Kurenai stated. "We don't need to accidentally start a panic or anything."

"Hai," the Genin chorused.

"Now, I'm pretty sure you've all got water walking down, so what should we work on next?"

"Could we increase our weights?" Ino asked. "I can't even tell that I'm wearing any."

"Alright, go get your vests and return here," Kurenai ordered. The Genin scattered, returning with their vests. "Now, add enough chakra for a bunshin. That should be enough. Naruto, use as much as you do for a normal henge. That should be safe enough."

The girls nodded and added the chakra to the seals. As they put the vests on, Ino and Hinata stumbled slightly, but Naruto almost crashed to the floor. "How much do those things weigh?" Anko asked.

"Ino's and mine should weigh around forty pounds now," Hinata answered.

"Ugh," Naruto groaned. "I think mine weighs two hundred fifty pounds now. And I only used what I use for henge."

"There's no way you could do a normal henge with that much chakra!" Anko exclaimed. "If you did, the illusion would fail. Naruto, was your henge just an illusion or solid?"

"Um, it was pretty solid, I think," Naruto said. "I d-doubt th-the H-harem no J-jutsu would w-work with an illusion." Naruto began shaking as the trauma in the shape if a little orange book returned full force.

"Hmm, you've already learned all of the chakra control that Genin usually do," commented Kurenai, trying to change the subject to something more pleasant. It worked as Naruto slowly stopped shivering. "Hey, Naruto, is that enough for you to learn Masu Henge no Jutsu?"

"I don't know, we need to ask Kyu-Ohki," Naruto replied.

"**To be perfectly honest, you have enough chakra control to learn Masu Henge no Jutsu," **Kyu-Ohki admitted. **"However, I do not feel that you have been adequately punished for your Sexy no Jutsu. I was originally going to hold out on you until your first period. Conversely, after today's events I think that you have learned the error of your ways. As such, I am willing to make a deal with you. You can either wait out your entire cycle and experience menstruation, or you can lay a cabbit egg, which would both simulate child birth and allow me to have the legacy I ****want. The decision is yours, Naruto. What do you choose? A month as a girl or two weeks at most?"**

Naruto considered the pros and cons of both options carefully before deciding. "I'll lay the egg." Of course, because her Kage Bunshin were still reading in the library, the basis for her decision was slightly flawed.

"**Good. The eggs will be ready in ten days," **Kyu-Ohki announced. **"You should not do any missions on the last three days. There is no turning back now."**

"Naruto," Kurenai deadpanned, "you are an idiot. Child birth is one of the most painful experiences in a woman's life." Naruto paled significantly at this. "Anyways, I think that we've had enough for the day. Dismissed!"

"I hope Naruto doesn't end up with the normal hormones for it," Anko remarked after the Genin left. There were still a hundred Naruto in the area, however, because Naruto did not want to sleep quite yet. Surprisingly, one of his clones had already made it three quarters of the way up the tree.

After the three Genin got changed back into their normal clothing, they walked back towards the village together. Naruto's stomach rumbled in hunger and she felt the urge to eat something, though she was not sure what she wanted. "Hey, guys, I need to get some food, but I'm not sure what I want. Do you have any ideas?" As she waited for an answer, she idly pulled out one of her old kunai, which she carried in the village to avoid suspicion, and absently began to gnaw on the metal.

"Naruto, why are you biting that kunai?" Ino asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" At that moment, her hand slipped, and she cut her tongue. "Ouch! Why am I trying to eat my gear?"

"Ano, Naruto-kun, maybe you need more iron?" Hinata suggested.

"_**Give the girl a gold star!"**_ Kyu-Ohki cheered through the mental link, so as to not incite mass hysteria. _**"Cabbits require a very metal heavy diet to grow properly. I would suggest getting supplements if you can't find the proper foods."**_

"Alright," Ino declared. "To the pharmacy!"

"They won't sell me anything," Naruto said dejectedly.

"I can get them for you, Naruto-kun," Hinata offered.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan." When the three Genin reached the store, Hinata entered while Ino decided to keep Naruto company outside.

When Hinata reached the supplement section, she mentally asked, _"Kyu-Ohki, which supplements does Naruto-kun need?"_

"_**Naruto is going to need a lot of metals. Magnesium, iron, manganese, chromium, silver, copper, gold, lead, and as many others as we can manage. Don't worry; I'll keep it from affecting her."**_ Kyu-Ohki answered.

"_Ano, I don't think I can get lead supplements."_

"_**If your village uses lead based paint, and it does, Naruto will just have to start eating paint chips. Again."**_

"_You mean wall candy?" _Naruto asked, having over heard the mental conversation.

"_That explains so much,"_ Ino mentally sighed. _"Who told you that, Naruto?"_

"_The people who took care of me until I could take care of myself."_

"_Those bastards!" _Hinata mentally fumed. _"They were trying to poison you!"_

"_**Don't worry," **_Kyu-Ohki interjected. _**"All of that lead was put to good use. Naruto's skin is more or less radiation proof for at least the next ten years. The Masu had to leach the lead out of her bones first, of course."**_

"_You ate that many paint chips as a kid?!" _Ino exclaimed, while remembering to stay silent.

"_Well, whenever I asked my caretakers for treats, they always pointed to the wall," _Naruto explained silently.

"_We need to tell the Hokage about this, Naruto-kun,"_ Hinata stated from inside the store as she picked up as many supplements as she could and carried them to the cashier. "I'd like to purchase these," she told the pimply youth.

"H-hai, Hyuuga-sama," the cashier replied, both surprised and honored that a Hyuuga, let alone the Hyuuga heiress, would shop there, instead of going to their private pharmacy. He quickly rang up the total without even looking at the items. Even if he had, he would not have dared to ask about her purchases.

"Thank you," Hinata told the clerk as she paid. The poor kid almost had a heart attack, as the Hyuuga never thanked anyone for anything. As Hinata rejoined her fellow Genin, she had one last mental warning for the group, _"If at all possible, we should only talk about Naruto's changes in our heads, so no one can overhear."_

"Come on!" Naruto exclaimed, "Let's go see the Hokage!"

"_Should we keep the mental link a secret from him?" _Ino asked in their heads.

"_Nah,"_ Naruto silently replied. "_I'm pretty sure he already knows by now."_

"_Then why hasn't our group been separated yet?" _Hinata asked. _"It would be tactically advantageous to do so."_

"_We can ask when we get there,"_ Ino commented, still in their heads.

"Alright, we'll go talk to the Hokage," Hinata relented. She was somewhat afraid that her team might be broken up, and she did not want that. However, she trusted Naruto to make the right choice. He had, after all, talked to the Hokage more than any other Genin. As they walked towards Sandaime's office, Hinata noticed that Naruto was again gnawing on a kunai. "Naruto-kun, stop trying to eat your kunai, please. Here, have some of the supplements, instead." She handed Naruto one of the bottles.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," Naruto replied gratefully. "I was getting tired of cutting myself." Popping open the container, the blond eagerly began eating the pills like candy.

"I'm not sure your body can process all of that at once," Ino commented warily.

"I'm sure I'll manage," Naruto said happily, popping more of the pills into her mouth.

The three girls continued their walk in silence, unable to think of anything else to say. When they reached the Hokage's office, they were greeted by his secretary, Saotome Hikari, "Hello, Naruto-chan. Who are you're friends?"

"Hi, Hikari-neechan. These are my teammates, Hyuuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino. Hinata-chan, Ino-chan, this is Hikari-neechan."

"I thought Naruto didn't have any relatives," Ino protested.

"Oh, we're not related," Hikari stated. "Bro decided to call me Sis, so I'm returning the favor."

"Hai, Hikari-neechan is much nicer than the Hokage's old secretaries," Naruto interjected.

"So, how has your time as a Genin been so far?" the secretary asked.

"It's been great!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "Kurenai-sensei and Anko-sensei are teaching us a lot!"

"You have Anko-san teaching you as well?" Hikari asked incredulously. "Last I heard, she refused to teach anyone, which is one of the reasons she is a Special Jounin instead of a Jounin. Her skills are great, but she doesn't work well with others."

"Really?" Ino asked. "She seems to get along with us well enough."

"How'd you pull that off?" Hikari prompted, eagerly. While she was not a friend of the Special Jounin, she had no animosity towards her, and only avoided Anko because of her violent reputation. If she had been a kunoichi, and not a civilian, she would have gladly been friends with the slightly older woman, despite knowing her past.

"We just accepted her for who she is," Hinata stated softly, "not who her instructor had been."

"Is she really as violent as the stories make her sound?"

"I don't now about any stories, but the only time she's really violent is when we're training."

"Even then, she doesn't do anything we won't easily heal from," Naruto added.

"Which, apparently, means that Naruto is nearly maimed on a fairly regular basis," Ino admitted.

"What the hell is she thinking?"

"I heal very quickly," Naruto stated solemnly. "I'm usually back to full health within half an hour of whatever she does to me, especially with Hinata's healing salve to help."

"She still shouldn't do that."

"But I need to learn to fight through the pain now, rather than on a mission," Naruto pointed out.

"Fine, I guess it really isn't my business if you want to hurt yourself constantly," Hikari sniffed. "I'm just trying to look out for my little brother. I don't want you to get hurt."

Naruto gave Hikari a hug. "Thanks, sis. It really means a lot to me."

Hikari returned Naruto's hug, saying, "You're welcome, bro. It means a lot to me, too. Now, what do you guys need, or did you just come by to talk to me?"

"Ano, we'd like to see Hokage-sama, please," Hinata answered.

"Ah, you're in luck, then," Hikari stated. "He's available now, so you can go right in. Oh, and Naruto-chan, I'd like to talk to you a little more before you leave."

"Thanks, oneechan! I'll see you when we're done talking to the Old Man," Naruto called back as she led the other two girls into the Sandaime's office. "Oi, old man, we need to talk to you." Hinata was frankly shocked at Naruto's blatant disrespect for the Hokage.

"What is this about, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked warily.

"Eh heh heh," Naruto laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm kind of pregnant."

"You're what?!" the old man exclaimed, wanting to make sure he was hearing correctly.

"Naruto is pregnant," Ino affirmed.

"And how did this happen?" the Hokage asked. "You don't expect me to believe that you've had sex, do you?"

While Ino and Hinata blushed bright red, Naruto could only ask one question, "Ano, what's sex?"

Sandaime almost fell over at Naruto's innocent question before he caught himself. "Alright, Naruto, that's quite enough. You really had me going there for a minute. You pregnant, that's a great prank."

"Eh? What do you mean, prank?" Naruto asked. "I really am pregnant!"

"I'm really quite impressed. How did you get Ino and Hinata to go along with you?"

"Ano," Hinata started meekly. "It isn't a p-prank. Naruto-kun r-really is p-pregnant."

"Ino I could see actively supporting this prank," Hokage-sama began. "But I would not have expected the Hyuuga heiress to be actively participating in such a thing."

"**Who said it was a prank?"** Kyu-Ohki asked.

"How did you get the cabbit to play a part in this?"

"**This is not a prank; damn it, old man, Naruto is actually pregnant!"**

"But why? How?" the old man ground out.

"Kyu-Ohki was going to hold out on the Masu Henge no Jutsu for a whole month," Naruto admitted. "It was to punish me for the Sexy no Jutsu."

"What does this have to do with you being pregnant?"

"After a… traumatic event earlier today," Ino began hesitantly, "Kyu-Ohki felt that Naruto had learned most of the lesson, so he was willing to compromise."

"What traumatic event would do that?"

"**A little orange book of more pure evil than even the Kyuubi no Kitsune,"** the Kyuubi no Cabbit stated solemnly. Sarutobi stealthily locked the drawer containing his own orange book.

"And what does this have to do with getting pregnant?" the perverted Hokage asked.

"**I gave her a choice. One month as a girl, including menstruation, or she carries my legacy within her for about two weeks. She chose the latter."**

"Naruto! How could you allow yourself to be used to make more demons?" The Hokage admonished.

"**Who said anything about demons, Hokage? No, Naruto is carrying normal cabbits in her womb."** The demon considered for a moment before adding, **"Well, as normal as they can be considering their mother."**

"You used Naruto's eggs?" Ino asked incredulously.

"**Of course I did, silly girl. I'm a male cabbit. It's not like I have my own eggs to use."**

"What do you mean I have eggs?" Naruto asked, causing Sarutobi to stare in shock.

"Ano, I'm sure you'll find out tonight, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, trying to head off a rather awkward conversation.

"That's right!" exclaimed the pregnant blond. "My kage bunshin are still reading about anatomy and stuff in the library."

"How many are you using, and how long has it been?" the Hokage asked.

"Well, I started at about seven thirty this morning with one hundred clones, and then I made another hundred when we started working on chakra control around nine o'clock."

"And they're all still active?" Sarutobi asked. "Are you insane?! The mental strain could fry your brain completely!"

"I was fine after two hundred twenty clones reading for over twelve hours yesterday," the whiskered blond muttered.

"Is this true?" Sandaime asked the other, more sane girls.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Hinata collaborated.

"He only needed a good nights sleep," Ino added.

"Kurenai-sensei wants me to increase my chakra reserves," Naruto stated. "So I use Kage Bunshin to stretch my reserves."

"Let me get this straight," the Old Man started slowly, "you can create over two hundred clones using Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

"Hai. Why do you ask?"

"Naruto, there is an advanced form of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. If you can create over two hundred Kage Bunshin with Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, I hesitate to ponder how many you could create with Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. The one thing you must remember, however, is that your chakra is spread equally over all of your clones and yourself, so it is easy to accidentally deplete your reserves. I'm sure you will be able to figure out this technique on your own, so I will not provide the scroll. Besides, the Shodai Hokage banned the technique. Not that it stops anyone, really. So, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Well, my caretakers have been trying to poison me for years," Naruto admitted.

"What do you mean?" Sandaime asked.

"Naruto's caretakers told him to eat paint chips as a kid!" Ino exclaimed angrily. Naruto could have had lead poisoning!"

"Hmm. It seems that I need to go speak to some of the orphanage workers, then," the Hokage stated. "Now, do you need anything else while you're here?"

"I think that's everything, Old Man," Naruto stated. "Do you girls need anything?"

"I'm good," Ino replied.

"I don't need anything," Hinata added. _"Do we need to get anything else, Kyu-Ohki?" _Hinata asked mentally as the trio headed back out of the office.

"_**Not for Naruto's pregnancy, at least,"**_ was the reply. _**"However, teaching Naruto Juuken would greatly help you in your training."**_

"_But he would need the Byakugan just to attempt to learn it!" _Hinata protested. _"The Council would never allow him to have it!"_

"_**But that is the beauty of Naruto's kekkei genkai," **_Kyu-Ohki explained. _**"With any luck, if she drinks half a gallon of Hyuuga blood, she can use Masu Henge no Jutsu to obtain the Byakugan. I think you should talk to Kurenai-san about doing so tomorrow."**_

"I have to do what?!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed out loud, causing the nearby Hokage to look at her strangely. Seeing that the trio did not want to mention it, he let them be.

Hinata, on the other hand, was horrified. _'I can't believe Naruto-kun will have to drink blood. Oh no! Kyu-Ohki is turning him into a vampire!' _the worried Hyuuga thought. Soon, however, a new thought, or rather image, appeared in her mind. She was standing still with a furry Naruto on each side, dressed in tight, revealing leather, covering even less than Naruto's swimsuit had earlier. One was male while the other was female. While the female Naruto stood in front of Hinata, pressing their chests together, the male Naruto pressed against her from behind. They nibbled their way down her jaw and neck until they reached her shoulders, where they sank their elongated fangs into her tender flesh, sensuously sucking out her lifeblood while she writhed in pleasure.

When Ino had heard Kyu-Ohki's suggestion, she was on the verge of being sick and feinting. However, when Hinata's mental image hit her, she replaced Hinata between the two Naruto. As her mental pleasure increased from the thought, she accidentally transmitted it back to Hinata. The Hyuuga changed the daydream again, with her pressing against Ino, and both girls surrounded by furry Naruto vampires. Ino caught the new image and increased it even more. The two girls formed a mental feedback loop that caused them to spasm and pass out right in front of Hikari's desk. Naruto barely managed to catch the girls before they hit the floor. As it was, she was having a hard time concentrating through the thoughts both girls had been broadcasting.

"Oi, Sis, what's wrong with Ino-chan and Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked worriedly. "And why was I biting them?"

"I think they'll be fine, Naruto-chan," Hikari assured the distraught blond.

"And why am I sticky again?!" the blond demanded.

Hikari just coughed and tried to change the subject, "So. Naruto-niichan, I was wondering if you'd like to live with me."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, demonstrating her rather short attention span when not working on a new technique.

"Well, I see you as a little brother, and I know where your apartment is. I'd like you to live with me instead of in that area."

"I don't know, Sis," Naruto began apologetically. "I'm used to living by myself, and this really isn't a good week to try anything new like that."

"Why not, Naruto-niichan?" Hikari asked.

"I'd rather not say," Naruto hedged. "It's sort of personal."

"All right, Bro, I'm not going to pry into your life just yet. Just know that you can talk to me about anything." Hikari gave the blond a quick hug and commented, "I think your friends are getting up."

The two girls were indeed awakening from their perversion induced stupors, and Naruto quickly asked, "Eh, Hinata-chan, Ino-chan, are you two all right?"

"H-hai, I'm fine, Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered, her face bright red.

"I'm fine, too," Ino commented, also with a rather deep blush.

"That's good," Naruto replied. "So what happened to you two, anyways?"

"N-nothing s-serious, Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered.

"Yeah, Naruto, there's nothing wrong with us now," Ino added. "Besides, it's getting late; we should get going."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Naruto concurred. "Well, I'll see you later, Sis. Bye!"

"Bye, Naruto-chan, Ino-san, and Hinata-san."

"Bye, Hikari-san," Ino and Hinata answered. The three girls then left the office with a wave.

"Well, I should probably head home and get some sleep," Naruto stated. "My Kage Bunshin are probably done by now."

"All right, Naruto-kun," Hinata said. "I'll see you and Ino tomorrow, then." With that, the blue haired girl headed back to her house for the night.

"Naruto," Ino started, "I still need to practice my Shintenshin tonight; so can you come back to my house for the moment?"

"Sure, Ino-chan." The two blonds made their way back to Ino's house and to her room, so that Ino could go right to sleep after the exercise. Naruto then headed back to her own apartment for the night and dispelled her Kage Bunshin right after she was all ready to go to sleep. As Ino had fallen asleep right after her mental exercise was finished, the three had a very pleasant dream, where they played a game of hide and seek, which conveniently doubled as stealth training.

* * *

The next morning, after their mission, consisting of painting a fence, Team 8 gathered reconvened at their normal training grounds. The mission itself had only taken thirty minutes, rather than the expected five hours, courtesy of Naruto's Kage Bunshin. "Well, since we finished that mission much faster than expected, we have a choice," Kurenai stated. "As I didn't plan on you finishing that quickly, I'll let you decide how you want to train until lunch." 

"Ano," Hinata started, "Kyu-Ohki suggested we try to get Naruto the Byakugan."

"What would she need it for?" Anko asked.

"To help Hinata-chan with her training, of course," Naruto answered. No one noticed that Anko had used the wrong pronoun, as even Naruto was beginning to think of herself as female, as well as male.

"So, how do you plan on getting the Byakugan?" Kurenai questioned. "They aren't going to just give you a pair."

"Kyu-Ohki thinks that Naruto could absorb the information necessary to copy it by drinking a half gallon of Hyuuga blood," Ino supplied.

"Well, let's get started," Anko said excitedly, reaching for Hinata's arm. A quick slice of her kunai later, a thin line of blood was beading on Hinata's forearm. "Start drinking, Naruto!" she cried happily, grabbing Naruto's head and forcing her mouth against the bleeding arm. Seeing that Naruto refused to drink, she clamped Naruto's nose closed with the hand holding Hinata's arm steady, forcing her to open her mouth against the bleeding cut. Thus, some of Hinata's blood made its way down Naruto's throat before Ino and Kurenai could pry the Special Jounin off of the pair. An even smaller amount of blood made it into a small cut from when Naruto had run out of supplements and was trying to eat another kunai.

"Stop it Anko!" Kurenai shouted. "Hinata can't lose a half gallon of blood or she'll die!" That caused Anko to loosen her grip enough for the Genin to escape.

Naruto wiped the blood off of her face and complained, "I need to drink the half gallon all at once. Kyu-Ohki suggested that Kurenai-sensei ask Hinata's father for blood from the Hyuuga blood bank. It doesn't need to be fresh, so we can use whatever they are about to throw out."

"Why would Hiashi allow you to have the blood?" Kurenai asked.

"No one has looked into using blood to copy kekkei genkai," Anko stated. "At least not that I've ever heard of, and definitely not through ingestion."

"All right," Kurenai relented. "We'll go see Hiashi about the blood. Hinata, give me your arm so I can heal it. I'd rather not have to listen to your father if he were to see it."

"Hai, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata said, holding her arm out. Kurenai used a relatively simple healing jutsu to heal the shallow cut. The group then made there way to the Hyuuga compound.

When they arrived at the front gate, one of the guards, the one who had attacked Naruto the other day, stopped them and asked, "What is your business here?"

"I would like to speak to Hiashi-sama in regards to Hinata's training. My team will accompany me," Kurenai answered politely.

"I will inform Hiashi-sama immediately," the guard stated before walking into the estate, leaving the other guards to watch the group. The team waited silently for ten minutes before the guard came back. "Hiashi-sama will see you now. Please follow me." As they headed into the building, he sent a small glare at Naruto and added, "And don't touch anything." Anko quickly edged back towards the group from where she had been about to poke a vase.

The five females were eventually led into Hiashi's office, where the long haired Hyuuga head was standing, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out the window. He turned and motioned to the guard, "You are dismissed." The guard was quick to leave. "What have you come to discuss, Kurenai-san?" he asked, extremely formally.

"Hiashi-sama, I would like access to one half gallon of nearly expired blood from the Hyuuga Blood Bank to help in Hinata's training."

"And how is blood supposed to help her train?" the skeptical Hiashi inquired.

"Naruto?" Kurenai asked, deferring to her student's supposed expertise on the subject.

"Hai. I have a new kekkei genkai that may allow me to use the Byakugan," Naruto stated, having come to the conclusion that near total honesty would be the best course of action. "I could then observe your lessons with Kage Bunshin and help Hinata when she cannot receive lessons from your clan."

"And why should I allow you, a lowborn brat, to have the Byakugan?"

"How do you know if I am lowborn or not?" Naruto shot back. "I'm an orphan; I don't know who my parents are. Besides, there is no guarantee that I can even copy the Byakugan."

"Regardless, why should I allow you the chance?"

"One of the Hyuuga's greatest fears is to lose you eyes, correct?" Naruto asked. When Hiashi nodded stiffly, she continued, "According to my reading in anatomy, my understanding of my bloodline, and my discussions with a more informed party, it should possible for me to regenerate any body part, including the eyes and optic nerves, using just my chakra. I should also be able to give my bloodline to someone else. Think about it; the Hyuuga may never need fear for their eyes again."

"That is a very enticing offer. Unfortunately, we threw out all of our old blood yesterday, and we will not be able to spare any until a month from now. I will allow you to watch Hinata's training sessions until then so that you can see what see is supposed to do. If you impress me over the next month, I will allow you to have the blood you seek," Hiashi stated with an air of finality. "I also want you to look up your parents. They should be listed on your birth certificate."

"Aw, but I wanted the cabbits to have the Byakugan," Naruto whined before she could stop herself.

"What are these 'cabbits' and how would they acquire the Byakugan," Hiashi demanded angrily.

"A cabbit looks like a mix of a cat and a rabbit," Ino stated. "They are generally very friendly."

"How would you know that?" Hiashi asked. "And that still does not explain how they would get the Byakugan."

"Kyuubi was a cabbit, not a fox," Naruto stated solemnly. "And the cabbits I'm talking about would get the Byakugan because I chose to have them instead of staying a girl for a whole month. Ino knows what a cabbit looks like because Kyu-Ohki is training her in escaping from a bijuu in a Jinchuuriki's mind. We're pretty sure that I'm not the only one, but I'm probably the only one that was used as a jailer instead of a weapon. The ironic part is that Kyu-Ohki wasn't even attacking Konoha. He just wanted some carrots."

"So these cabbits you're going to have will make good pets?" Hiashi asked, a plan forming.

"No, they would make horrible pets," Naruto admitted. She continued before Hiashi could interrupt, "They'll be much too intelligent for that. However, they would make great partners."

"That is even better, then," Hiashi stated. "In addition to my other requirements, I want you to provide a cabbit for my daughter, Hanabi."

"I apologize, Hyuuga-sama, but that is one thing I cannot just do," Naruto declared. "I will not just give away my own flesh and blood. My cabbits will go to whomever they bond with."

"What do you mean your flesh and blood?" Hiashi asked, startled.

"Kyu-Ohki used my eggs to ensure his legacy," Naruto explained. "They are quite literally my children as well. I will not force anyone upon them. It is their decision to make. However, I am willing to give your daughter the opportunity to receive a cabbit. Is that acceptable, Hyuuga-sama?"

"I understand. That is acceptable. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"I believe that is all," Kurenai stated.

"Very well, I will have a Branch member escort you out," Hiashi replied. Soon enough, the Genin team was back outside and heading towards their training grounds. "I hope Hanabi gets a cabbit," Hiashi muttered. "Maybe then she'll stop asking for a cat. She knows how bad my allergies are!"

* * *

Back at the training site, Naruto turned towards Hinata, and said, "Thanks for helping me convince your father, Hinata-chan. I don't think I could have done it without you." 

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied.

"But she didn't do anything!" Anko protested.

"She did a lot more than you'd think, Anko-sensei," Naruto firmly stated. "Would you like to know what I mean? First hand?"

"She used the mental link between you, right?" Anko asked; Naruto nodded. "And the link is permanent?" Again, Naruto nodded. "Then why are you offering it to me?"

"Ino, Hinata, and I care about you, Anko-sensei. We want you to know how much we care, and that we'll never abandon you, no matter what." Naruto stared into Anko's teary eyes and began making seals, "Ram, rabbit, dragon, boar. Do you accept?"

"Yes," Anko choked out, suppressing her happy sobs. An instant later the bond was formed and the Special Jounin felt a surge of warm, fuzzy feelings enveloping her. Mere seconds later, she was also enveloped in a group hug consisting of herself, Naruto, Ino, and Hinata.

"_Welcome to the club, Anko-sensei,"_ Ino spoke into Anko's mind.

"_I'm glad to be a part of it,"_ Anko mentally replied.

"_**It is a pleasure to finally be able to talk to you directly,"**_ Kyu-Ohki added. _**"Naruto, I believe you should attempt another ability you should have. If Anko-chan is willing, of course."**_

"_Anko-chan?" _Anko questioned indignantly, though she remembered to keep silent.

"_**I am a **__**millennia-old**__** demon taller than the Hokage's tower. Of course I'd refer to you as small."**_ At that answer, Anko just grumbled.

"What new ability did you want me to try?" Naruto asked aloud, for Kurenai's benefit.

Kyu-Ohki borrowed Naruto's larynx to follow suit, **"I believe the technique could be called 'Masu Isou no Jutsu' and would allow you to adopt another into your bloodline. I'm pretty sure that you'd need to establish a mental link first, however."**

"So, Anko-sensei," Naruto asked, "do you want to try this?"

"Why should I be the guinea pig? I think I've played that role enough already."

"**Both Hinata and Ino are members of well known clans. Anko-chan, you are an orphan, to the best of my knowledge, so you'd be the best candidate for adoption"** Kyu-Ohki explained.

"How safe will this be?" Anko asked warily.

"**Well, Naruto made out fine, but we've never actually done anything like this before," **Kyu-Ohki admitted, **"though it should be rather safe. Are you willing to try this?"**

"Sure, I might as well," Anko reluctantly agreed. "Who knows, this might even help me."

"Alright, what do I need to do?" Naruto asked.

"**You need to make the hand seals boar, rat, horse, bird, monkey, dragon, rat, horse, dog, tiger, snake, boar, snake, ox, horse, rabbit, dragon, monkey, bird, and tortoise. You then need to place your hands directly on her chest and direct the masu into her. Adding tiger at the end should cause the masu to explode after a certain amount of time, so don't do it!" **Kyu-Ohki sent a mental image of the tortoise seal to Naruto, as it was not one of the normal seals taught in the Academy.

"A-Anko-sensei, I'll have to touch yo-your breasts; is that alright with you?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Meh, sure; why not?" Anko replied. She pulled down her metal mesh body stocking under her trench coat and asked, "So, ready to do this?"

Naruto nodded and began making hand seals. "Boar, rat, horse, bird, monkey, dragon, rat, horse, dog, tiger, snake, boar, snake, ox, horse, rabbit, dragon, monkey, bird, and tortoise. Masu Isou no Jutsu!" The girl quickly, yet gently, placed her hands on Anko's chest, and started to slowly feed masu into her. After five minutes, Kyu-Ohki informed the group that the transfer was completed.

"So, how well did it work?" Kurenai asked eagerly.

"**It is impossible to tell exactly how well the transfer was until after I teach both Naruto and Anko Masu Henge no Jutsu. As such, we will have to wait at least a week before finding out."**

"Well, we could always see if a dot like mine formed under her forehead protector," Naruto suggested. Anko obligingly removed it and the others crowded around to look. "See, it's formed already, so the jutsu must have worked. Anyways, who's next?"

"**Naruto, I believe that you can only use that jutsu once a month, as your body needs to produce more masu before you transfer anymore."**

"Oh, all right," the blond pouted. "I guess we'll have to wait, then."

"So, let's get back to training!" Kurenai suggested, or rather ordered.

"Hai!" the three Genin shouted as they scrambled to get back to work. After a long day of training, everyone headed home. That night, Hinata was the first to fall asleep.

* * *

tag when fed into the converter), use the "Horizontal Ruler..." option in the "Insert" menu and pick "Plain" from the list. -->(Initiating Dream Sequence) 

Anko looked around the forest, confused. "What the hell is this?" she asked towards the green sky as she looked at the blue trees around her.

"Hello, Anko-sensei," Hinata called out as she walked into the clearing. "Welcome to tonight's dream, hosted by yours truly."

"What do you mean by that?" Anko demanded.

"Well, I was the first to fall asleep tonight, so we're going to be sharing my dream. We always make sure that either Ino or I fall asleep first so Naruto won't accidentally trap us in another nightmare."

"So where are the others?"

"Oh, they're hiding," Hinata stated. "We thought it'd be fun to play hide-and-seek again tonight. Why don't you join us?"

"What? Join you in such a childish game?" Anko scoffed. "I'm much too old for that."

"Oh, well, if that is your only complaint," Hinata started before yelling, "Ino! Naruto! Anko-sensei thinks she's too old to play with us!"

Mere moments later, both Naruto and Ino were standing in the clearing with Hinata and Anko. "What's this about being too old to play?" Ino demanded.

"Yeah," the male Naruto added. "This is a dream! You can be as old as we collectively want you to be!"

"What do you mean by that?" Anko inquired.

"Well, our dream forms seem to be based on our perceptions of ourselves and each other," Hinata explained. "As such, we can control our ages and appearances."

"And," Ino continued, "it seems to be based off of a balance system. When just Naruto and I were linked, we had equal power. After Hinata joined, two of us could over power the third. Now you have joined us, so the three of us should be able to change your age whether you want us to or not."

"That said," Naruto announced. "Welcome to the wonderful world of the preteen." The three Genin concentrated for a few moments and Anko shrank down into her twelve year old body. Luckily, her body stocking and trench coat shrank with her.

Anko took one look at her new body and demanded, "What did you do to me?"

"We just removed your reason for not paying with us," Hinata supplied.

"Yeah, come and play with us, Anko-sensei," Ino and Naruto chimed in.

"Fine, damn brats," Anko muttered under her breath. "I'll play with you, but don't call me Anko-sensei, at least not while I'm like this."

"All right, Anko-chan," Naruto replied happily. "So, who's going to be it?"

"Not it!" Ino and Hinata called out simultaneously, with Anko following a split second later.

"Damn," Naruto cursed. "I guess I'm it. You have until the count of one hundred to hide. Oh, Anko-chan, just so you know, chakra won't work here, so you'll have to rely on your natural stealth." After Anko nodded to indicate her understanding, Naruto closed his eyes and began, "One, two, three,…"

The three girls sprinted off in different directions, looking for a good place to hide. Anko quickly made her way into the trees, bouncing from trunk to trunk in order to gain altitude. Once she was high enough, she found a nice nook in a large tree to hide in. Hinata quickly found a hollow in the roots of a tree and climbed in, piling debris in the entrance to better shield her from view. Ino had a much harder time finding a hiding spot, as there were not as many suitable trees in the direction she ran in. Luckily, she came across a mostly dry gorge, and managed to hide in one of the many cavities.

"Ninety-nine, one hundred!" Naruto bellowed. "Ready or not, here I come!" Naruto quickly looked around the ground for tracks. "And this is why we can't use chakra," Naruto griped. "They didn't want me to use kage bunshin and find them quickly, like I did last night." Noticing a trail of scuffed up leaves, Naruto quickly made his pursuit. Coming up to the tree Hinata was hiding under, he noticed one slight discrepancy. A hole under the roots of the tree was filled with leaves. That, in and of itself, was not strange. What was odd was that the leaves were wet, despite there not being any dew on the ground. This, obviously, meant that the leaves had been recently moved. Naruto quickly removed the leaves from the hole and announced, "I found you, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata crawled out of the cavity, and asked, "So, have you found the others yet?" Naruto gave a negative reply and dashed off looking for Ino and Anko. Over the course of the night, the game of hide-and-seek devolved into a fast paced game of tag, followed by a tickle fight, after Naruto had once again claimed a female form. By the end of the night, the four girls were playing and laughing like the twelve year olds they were, rather than the trained killers that life as a ninja had made them.

(Terminating Dream Sequence)

* * *

All was peaceful the next morning in Konoha, up until Anko awoke. "WHAT?!" she shrieked as soon as she looked in the mirror. "Those three brats are dead. Dead, I say! 'Play hide-and-seek with us,' they say. They want hide-and-seek, I'll give them hide-and-seek!" After spending a good two hours looking for semi-decent clothing, Anko made her way to the training ground, arriving right after the Genin team returned from their D-rank mission of the day. 

"I wonder where Anko-sensei is," Ino mused. "She hasn't even spoken to us today."

"I'm not sure," Kurenai admitted. "It was her turn to choose the training for the day." The three girls gulped nervously, fearing for their lives.

Right before she entered the training grounds, Anko tried, and failed, to use a henge to appear normal. "You three brats are dead, you hear me?" she screamed as she approached.

"Anko!" Kurenai called out. "You can't kill off our team." She then saw Anko for the first time that day. "Anko, what happened to you?"

"These brats made me younger!" the twelve year old Anko declared angrily.

"But that was just a dream," Ino protested. "We didn't do anything to you outside of the dream."

"Then how do you explain this?"

"Um," Naruto interjected. "The first time I used masu henge was an accident, so I guess you might have been able to do it in your sleep without really trying to."

"Then tell me how to fix it," the irate purple haired preteen insisted.

Naruto shrugged her shoulders, and replied, "Wait until I lay Kyu-Ohki's eggs in a week and he'll tell us."

"I don't want to wait that long," Anko said, bordering on a whine.

"But this is your chance to have a proper childhood," Hinata suggested.

Anko took a deep, calming breath and said, "You're right. Why don't we play hide-and-seek? I know just the place, too." The evil grin she was sporting was beginning to worry the others.

"You don't mean where I think you do, right Anko?" Kurenai asked imploringly.

Anko answered exactly as the Jounin had feared, "We'll be playing in Area 44, better known as the Forest of Death." The three Genin shivered slightly in fear. "Don't worry; I only expect you to spend until tomorrow morning there," she added reassuringly. The girls were not reassured in the slightest.

"Um, Anko-chan?" Naruto asked, tying to change the subject. "Do you want us to call you Anko-sensei or Anko-chan until you can get back to normal?"

"Grr," Anko twitched and growled cutely. "Fine, call me Anko-chan. It's not like I can stop you, anyways."

"Alright, then, Anko-chan," Kurenai started sweetly. "Since this is your idea, why don't you lead the group?" Anko cursed under her breath and started heading towards the most dangerous area around Konoha.

"Kurenai-san, I didn't know you had a four person, kunoichi only Genin team," a male voice commented as the group passed by a Genin team painting a fence.

"Ino-pig, stay away from Sasuke-kun!" a pink haired kunoichi demanded.

"Eh? Forehead girl?" Ino asked in response. She looked over towards the origin of the voice. Sure enough, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kiba were painting the fence while Kakashi leaned against a tree, reading his little orange book.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked too quietly for Sakura to hear, though she did not charge up to the girl like she usually would. Doing so as a girl would be far more embarrassing than when she did so as a boy. Besides, her crush on the pinkette had already ended during her first dream with Ino.

"I'm not a Genin," Anko denied vehemently, drawing everyone's attention.

"Really?" Kakashi asked lazily. "I don't believe we have any Chunnin as young as you right now."

"I'm a Special Jounin, not a Chunnin," Anko stated in a slightly strained voice.

"No you are not," Kakashi said firmly, somehow managing to sound lazy at the same time. "We stopped treating prodigies better after Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke visibly twitched at the name of his brother.

"I'm older than Itachi, damn it!" Anko declared.

"Mya, you don't look it," Kakashi stated lazily.

"Anko, Kakashi," Kurenai started, her voice filled with authority. "Stop bickering."

"You mean she really is Mitarashi Anko, then?" Kakashi asked, allowing his little orange book to droop slightly in his hand.

Seeing the flash of orange in her peripheral vision, Naruto turned from Sakura towards Kakashi, only to focus in on the evil book of evilness. "Pervert!" she screamed shrilly, pointing at Kakashi. Kiba and Akamaru began to howl in pain from the high pitched noise. "How could you read that?!" the nearly hysterical blond continued to screech. "And in front of minors!" A reddish glow began to form on her forehead, originating from the oval gem there. "Tadashii Onnarashii Gekijou Kousen no Jutsu!" (Beam of Righteous Feminine Fury no Jutsu!) Naruto screamed, forming the tortoise hand seal instinctively. A beam of red light shot out of the gem, cutting through her forehead protector, aiming for the evil book of perversion. Before Kakashi could even move, his book was destroyed in a bright flash of flames. "Ha! Serves you right, pervert!" the blond crowed triumphantly. Kakashi just stood there in shock, still not comprehending that his book was now a pile of ash as he stared at his empty and slightly singed hand.

Sasuke, who had not been paying any attention to the plebeians around him, saw only the results of Naruto's attack, including the fact that only one hand seal was used, and began to brood, 'What is this power? Why does she have this power? It should be mine! I deserve this power more than her.' He obviously missed the name of the jutsu.

"Hey Naruto, do you think I can do that, too?" Anko asked with a manic grin.

"Eh? Probably," Naruto replied. "Not really sure how I did it, anyways. Sure was cathartic, though."

"My Icha Icha," Kakashi moaned as realization began to set in. He was still in shock though.

"You mean you're really Naruto?" Kiba asked. When Naruto nodded, Kiba gagged, "I can't believe I tried to ask you out!" He continued to gag while Akamaru snickered at his partner. After all, the dog had warned the boy. The wind shifted and Akamaru began sniffing the air, looking over towards the group. After a few short yips and barks to Kiba, the boy asked, "Hey, Naruto, why does Akamaru think you're pregnant?"

Naruto was spared answering by an ironic twist of fate in the form or Kakashi regaining his senses, along with an unfathomable rage. "You fiend! How dare you destroy the literary master piece that is Icha Icha!" He straightened his slanted forehead protector, revealing his Sharingan to the world and flew through the hand seals ox, rabbit, and monkey. He gripped his wrist as the chakra gathering around his hand broke into the visible spectrum with the sound of thousands of chirping birds. "Die, fiend! Raikiri!" Kakashi bellowed as he charged the unfortunate blond.

In the intervening seconds before Kakashi could complete his strike, Anko bit her thumb and flew through the necessary seals before slamming her hand against the ground, shouting, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A seal array spread outward from her hand, and a giant snake appeared between Kakashi and Naruto in a poof of smoke. Unable to avoid the snake in time, Kakashi was forced to use his Raikiri on the snake instead of the blond. After the snake summon was killed, it disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

"Are you done trying to kill my Genin?" Kurenai demanded angrily. "It's your fault for reading that smut in front of the Genin like that."

"You're lucky I can only use that jutsu a few times a day, girl," Kakashi spat, pulling his forehead protector back into place over his Sharingan. "You aren't worth the waste of chakra."

"Kakashi, that girl probably has more chakra than you," Anko jibed.

"Impossible," Kakashi retorted. "No rookie kunoichi can have more chakra than an elite Jounin like me."

"Why don't we make a bet, then," Kurenai suggested. "If my Genin can make more Kage Bunshin than you, you have to give up reading smut in public."

"And if I make more," Kakashi started, his visible eye curving into a lazy upside-down U, "you have to act out chapter ten in public."

Kurenai shuddered in revulsion, but said, "Fine. You're on. Why don't you go first?"

"Mya, alright," Kakashi said lazily. He formed the cross seal unique to the technique in question, and announced, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Seventy five Kakashi popped into existence, leaving the original panting from the exertion.

"Is that all?" Naruto asked. When the perverted Jounin nodded, Naruto formed her own cross seal and shouted, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" When the smoke finally cleared, Genin Team Seven gaped in shock. Naruto had managed to form over two hundred fifty clones, easily overwhelming Kakashi's puny seventy five.

"Well," Anko chirped. "It looks like you lose, Kakashi. Naruto didn't even use Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

"I guess this means you'll have to give up smut," Kurenai commented.

"Does this mean you'll train us more?" Kiba asked, excitedly.

Not even hearing the question, Kakashi dropped to his knees, reared his head back and cried the cry of the broken hearted, "NOOOooOOOOooo!!!" Kurenai and Anko quietly lead their Genin away from the sobbing Jounin and continued on to the Forest of Death. The Genin agreed that said forest was likely to be less scary than Kakashi at that moment.

"So, can we learn summoning?" Naruto asked.

Anko shrugged, and said, "Sure, I don't see why not, but you'll need to get a summing contract before you'll be able to summon anything."

"Why can't we use the Snake Contract?" Ino asked.

"Well, you could, but the snake boss, Manda is a bastard who'll eat you if you aren't strong enough to earn his respect, and even with his respect, he demands sacrifices whenever he's summoned." The three Genin just stared at her in shock.

"I think we'll wait for another contract," Hinata hesitantly declared for the group.

* * *

The week had finally passed and Naruto was very gravid. In fact, it looked like she was going to have triplets. Anko and Kurenai had decided to spend the last few days of the pregnancy in Area 44, because it provided some of the best privacy in the village. 

"Thank Kami it's over," Naruto panted after the final of seven eggs was laid. "Why do women go through with this?"

"If we don't the human race would perish," Kurenai commented dryly.

"But why does it hurt so much?" Naruto whined.

"Who cares," Anko cut in. "Just have Kyu-Ohki tell us how to use Masu Henge no Jutsu already."

"Aw," Ino sighed sadly. "You don't want to stay a kid?"

"Sure, it was fun," Anko admitted, "but I want to be my real age again."

"**You do realize that you are currently biologically twelve, correct?"** Kyu-Ohki interjected.

"Really?" Anko asked, now interested.

"**Yes, you see, masu henge allows you to directly manipulate your genetic structure, including where your ****centromeres separate and the length of your telomeres, meaning you can control your age and are functionally immortal. Of course, you'll need to use masu henge multiple times for that to work for any real length of time."**

"You mean we're immortal?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"**No. You are only functionally immortal, like a tree. You can still die."**

"Well, are you going to teach us yet?" Anko asked impatiently.

"**Fine, fine, I'll teach you,"** Kyu-Ohki said patronizingly. **"All you need to do is make the tortoise seal and concentrate like you would with a normal henge, except keep in mind age as well. That should do it."**

"That's it?" Anko asked, incredulous.

"**Yup."**

"You bastard!" the purple-haired girl yelled as she lunged for Naruto's throat, wanting to strangle Kyu-Ohki by proxy.

"Anko-chan!" Kurenai shouted, grabbing the Special Jounin around the waist. "Leave Naruto alone. Why don't you just use masu henge to get back to normal already?"

"Fine," Anko huffed. She made the tortoise seal and concentrated on her normal age. "Masu Henge no Jutsu!" Once the cloud of smoke cleared, Anko was revealed in all her twenty-four year old glory. Just because she grew did not mean her clothing would as well. Giving a quick "Eep!" Anko quickly reformed the tortoise seal and shouted, "Masu Henge no Jutsu!" Once again in clothing that was not tight to the point of being painful, Anko announced, "I think I'll stay like this for now."

Naruto laughed, "At least my clothing will still fit me! Masu Henge no Jutsu!"

* * *

(Well, there's chapter three. Now the only question is who will get those eggs? Please review with your favorite recipients. And remember, there can be only seven. Please note that this is not a vote, as votes are technically against site policy.) 


	4. There be eggs here

Kyuubi no Cabbit

Chapter Four: There be eggs here

I'm going to be dropping the majority of the Japanese I've been using, as I don't know it well enough to use it correctly. I'll still use what I am sure about, though. Also, the years given was for simplicity, as I don't think any was ever given. If this is false, let me know so I can change it. Also, this is a barely beta'ed version, so please point out any errors you see. Sorry for the delay, I have a slight problem with laziness and reading more than I write.

* * *

"Ah," Naruto sighed happily as he walked out of the bathroom, barely five minutes after regaining his manhood. "It's great to be able to pee standing up again," he declared, naturally causing a round of giggles from the girls. 

"Hey, Anko, can you change your sex as well?" Kurenai asked. "I mean, Naruto can do it so easily."

"I don't know," Anko replied, "but I'd rather not find out."

"Come on, Anko-chan," Ino urged. "We want to see what you'd look like as a guy!"

"Please," Hinata pleaded, utilizing the kinjutsu known only as the dreaded Puppy-Eyes no Jutsu. It had been known to quell even a Kage in under a minute. The only kinjutsu more devastating was Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu, even though the Puppy Eye no Jutsu had a better success rate against women.

Anko, who was still twelve, just sighed, "Fine, I'll try it, but, if you laugh, you die." Her threat delivered, Anko concentrated on what she thought she would look like if she were male and formed the tortoise seal, calling out, "Masu Henge no Jutsu!" Once the smoke cleared, everyone could see Anko, who was completely unchanged, except her hair was shorter and spiked instead of in her customary spiky pigtail.

"So, did anything happen other than changing your haircut?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think so," Ino stated.

"Ano, why don't you go check in the bathroom, Anko-chan?" Hinata suggested.

"Yeah, I guess I should, even if my pants just seem to fit differently, and nothing else," Anko replied before heading into the bathroom. A moment later, she came back out and announced, "Yes, I am a boy. Not that you can really tell at first glance."

"Why Anko," Kurenai joked, even as Anko drew a kunai, "you must be too much of a tomboy for your henge to make much of a difference." A second later, she dodged the kunai aimed for her head. The Genin were smart enough to realize that laughing would be very hazardous to their health and remained silent.

"Oh yeah?" Anko shouted angrily. "Why don't you try it then?"

"Sorry, I can't," Kurenai answered pleasantly. "I don't have any masu."

"Naruto," Anko growled, causing said blonde to gulp nervously. "Next month you're to give Kurenai some masu, understand?"

"H-hai," Naruto stuttered, afraid of the glint in the new boy's eyes. Trying to avoid any unnecessary bloodletting, he quickly changed the subject, "Come on; let's go check on the eggs."

"Right after I change back," Anko interjected. As the others paused on their way to the clutch, he formed the tortoise seal, and, with a cry of, "Masu Henge no Jutsu," she was back to her old, if younger, self. With a curt nod of her head, causing her spiky ponytail to bob cutely, Anko led the way towards the eggs.

The group was soon gathered around the eggs. "Hey, that one is moving," Ino pointed out. The egg in question was indeed rocking back and forth. With a lurch, the egg rolled completely over, towards Anko. "Hey, Naruto, why is that egg trying to roll towards Anko?"

"I think that the cabbit in that egg has decided to partner with her," Naruto explained. "Or at least that is the feeling I'm getting from the egg. Why don't you try holding it, Anko-chan?"

"Sure, why not?" Anko shrugged before picking up the egg. "I feel so warm," she commented in wonder as she gently held the egg.

Naruto nodded in what he thought was a wise fashion and said, "So I was right. The cabbits will choose their own partners. I just didn't think they'd do it until after they hatched." Of course, he was working off of the biology books he'd read in the library, regarding the imprinting of hatching birds and had no knowledge on hatching cabbits.

"So are we going to see if Hanabi will be getting one?" Hinata asked, excited at the prospect of her sister getting a pet and partner of her own.

"Not quite yet," Naruto announced. "I want to look up my parents before meeting with Hiashi-sama again. Knowing my lineage might help convince him to let me try to copy the Byakugan."

"In that case, let's head to the Hokage's office and ask to see your birth records, Kurenai suggested.

"Hai, Kurenai-sensei, let's go!" Naruto shouted, charging back into the Forest of Death. Thirty seconds later, he was back. "We can't forget about the eggs, can we?" he asked sheepishly before collecting the six remaining eggs, allowing Anko to keep hers, and placed them in a padded sling under his shirt. The fact that she had threatened to gut him if he so much as thought about trying to separate the egg from her had no bearing on that decision. Ino, Hinata, and Kurenai wisely stayed far away from that argument, as well as the kunai Anko was waving about wildly to keep Naruto at bay. With the eggs properly in hand, the group made their way to the Hokage's office, quickly navigating through the now familiar Forest of Death. The last few days were exceedingly good training for the three Genin.

* * *

As the team traveled, Kurenai reminisced on her team's growth since they came under her wing. 'It started off amazingly well, considering that Naruto had revealed his deepest, darkest secret even before the team could go through any trust building exercises. The girls are made of better stuff than most of the villagers, however, and readily accepted him, her at the time, as their teammate. Then I brought in Anko to help her teach them taijutsu and ninjutsu. Well, that was the reason I gave them, at least. I did have an alternate motive, after all. Anko's attitude towards most of the ninja in the village, while justified, is holding her back from advancing to a full Jounin. With any luck, having her help with the Genin might be enough to show that she can work with others. 

'Anko's addition to the team was actually the best move I could have made at the time, as it provided someone to teach the kids the harder parts of being shinobi, particularly the killing. I, while capable of killing during missions, would have a hard time teaching such innocent kids to take a life. Anko was also doing wonders for their pain thresholds, even if that was just a side effect of her training style. At the rate she was progressing with Naruto, he would probably be able to take a Chidori to any non-vital area and keep fighting. Of course, having Kyu-Ohki there to help heal him so he wouldn't die after having fifty deep wounds inflicted in the space of an hour helped immensely.

'And that brings up the next surprise. Kyu-Ohki being essentially benevolent was a bit of a shock to everyone. Using him as a training tool was just strange, even if it will keep Ino safe from any other Jinchuuriki she happened to encounter. It was just three days ago that he pronounced her sufficiently trained in escaping a mind to continue on to the next step: staying in a mind that wanted her out. She seems to be doing well so far.

'Hinata has also under gone extreme improvements over the last month. While she still refuses to go all out on Ino, Anko, or myself, she no longer has any qualms about fighting Naruto. The need to teach him the basics of Juuken as well as his complete resistance to any attack on his chakra coils or tenketsu combined to spur the still somewhat shy girl into putting forth all her effort. With Anko's help, Hinata has also been 'corrupting' the style, as the Hyuuga clan would claim. We just call it removing weaknesses and increasing adaptability. Adding kicks to a fighting style just means you have more to work with, and Hinata is sure she can figure out how to preform normal Juuken strikes with her feet soon enough. Her ninjutsu training is also coming along nicely, even if she is still sticking mostly to supplemental techniques and staying as a mostly taijutsu user.

'Naruto, on the other hand, can be described with one word. Scary. Through the use of Kage Bunshin, he has already increased his chakra reserves to nearly Kage levels and has more chakra control down than even I do. Oddly enough, even with all that control, Naruto still cannot use Bunshin no Jutsu or stop his chakra completely. His pregnancy was also a disturbing topic, even if it's over now, especially his cravings. Paint chips made sense after Kyu-Ohki explained that the lead would be needed, but why would Naruto want to eat the bright orange glaze off of ceramics? Even worse was Kyu-Ohki ensuring us that the lead in Naruto's skin would protect us. I don't think I even want to know what that was about.

'The first few days of the pregnancy was fine. We took a D ranked mission or two each day and went on to continue training. Strangely enough, I haven't seen any of the other teams doing much training at all. Then again, I might not be looking in the right places at the right time.

Everything was fine until about four days ago, when Naruto began to visibly show her condition. That marked the end of our missions until Naruto returned to normal. Speaking of which, I need to find mission for tomorrow while we're at the administration building. The day after we stopped doing missions, Naruto had grown so large that we couldn't even train in public without risking unwanted attention. Actually, Naruto wouldn't even have been able to safely leave his apartment without me providing her with a genjutsu. I asked the Hokage what we could do about it, and he mentioned that no one ever entered the Forest of Death if they could avoid it, barring an angry Anko, of course, so Naruto could probably hide out there until she came to term. When I explained everything to the team, they decided to accompany Naruto, to provide emotional support and so they could continue their respective training.

'With the three Genin going, I had to join as well, to keep them out of trouble, if nothing else. Surprisingly, even Anko decided to join the group, which justified my accompaniment even more. Even though she said it was because she wanted to change back to her rightful age as soon as possible, it was obvious that she would have come with us anyways. After two days of running around the forest training and avoiding the excessively large insects and such, Naruto was finally too far along to safely continue physical training, so we took the day off. Anko choose that time to surprise the Genin with her hobby, Tea Ceremony. In turn, Naruto surprised Anko and myself by demonstrating that she knew the basics and managed to complete the ceremony properly.' Kurenai brought her thoughts to a close as they neared the Hokage's tower.

* * *

"Hikari," Naruto called out as the quintet entered the waiting area of the Hokage's office, "how are you?" 

"I'm fine, Naruto," Hikari replied. "How are you?"

"I'm happy to be male again," the boy said with a grin. The blond glanced around conspiratorially and leaned over the desk, bringing his face to scant inches away from Hikari's, and whispered quietly, so that only she could hear, "Want to see my eggs?"

Humoring her surrogate brother, the green haired girl whispered back, "Sure, I'd love to see your eggs."

With a flourish, Naruto revealed the six unclaimed eggs. Looking down at the motionless eggs, Naruto sighed sadly, "Aw, I was hoping one of them would have chosen you."

"What do you mean?" Hikari asked, a frown marring her features.

"Well, since you've been so nice to me," Naruto began, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "I wanted you to have one of my cabbits."

"One of your what?" the confused secretary asked, barely keeping her voice soft enough to not alert the Chunnin guards. Kurenai looked worriedly towards the guards and put up a noise dampening genjutsu. This conversation was definitely entering dangerous waters.

"Naruto-chan here decided to have children with the Kyuubi to shorten the amount of time he was going to be stuck as a girl," Anko answered with an evil grin. The shriek of fear Hikari let loose upon hearing that simple statement proved the wisdom of Kurenai's preemptive genjutsu.

After managing to calm the poor girl down enough to listen, Naruto continued to soothe his sister figure, "It's alright. Kyuubi isn't as bad as everyone thinks. His attack on Konoha was all a misunderstanding. And the cabbits are going to be normal cabbits, not demons."

After Naruto had finished consoling the girl sufficiently, Kurenai turned towards Anko and shook her finger disapprovingly. "Anko!" she admonished her friend, "Act your age!"

"I am," Anko replied, smirking even wider. "Twelve," the youthful Special Jounin added after a pause, sticking her tongue out at Kurenai's indignant expression.

"Wait, you're Mitarashi Anko?" Hikari asked incredulously, pointing to the purple haired youth.

"Yes I am. You have a problem with that?" Anko retorted savagely, a kunai appearing in her hand as her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Not at all!" Hikari squeaked fearfully, her hands raised to protect her face. Anko reluctantly lowered her kunai, and the less frightened secretary continued, "I was just surprised. Aren't you supposed to be twenty-four now?" Genuine interest shone in her eyes.

"I am, chronologically," Anko replied with a shrug. "But I'm twelve biologically, at the moment. It's Naruto's fault," she concluded without any real malice in her voice as she caught Naruto and gave him a noogie.

"How is it my fault that you haven't grown up yet?" Naruto protested from his position in Anko's headlock.

She just gave Naruto another noogie as she substantiated her claim, "You made us come here without letting me get a change of clothing first! You know I can't wear this as an adult!"

"Oh. Good point," Naruto admitted. "But you're still cuter like this!"

"You still haven't said how Anko-chan is currently twelve," Hikari interjected before any blood could be spilled. The blush currently on Anko's cheeks made that outcome seem unlikely, though.

"Oh," Naruto started, once again rubbing the back of his head sheepishly after Anko released him. "That's part of my kekkei genkai," Naruto stated. "I can share it."

"I was his first test victim," Anko added with some affection in her voice. "The hardest thing to get used to was the shared dreams. Everything else is kind of cool."

"Really? I wonder what it's like," Hikari commented wistfully.

"I'd love to give you a link, Sis," Naruto began mournfully. "But we don't know what it'd do to civilians, and I don't want to risk you getting hurt. We don't know how it works, if it needs any form of chakra control, or anything."

"Oh," Hikari replied with equal sadness. "I guess it's for the best, then." After a few moments she perked up and asked, "So, did you come here just to show me your eggs, or did you want to see Hokage-sama as well?"

"Thanks for reminding me, Sis," Naruto exclaimed. "I need to see the Old Man about finding my birth certificate."

"Alright, Naruto, I'll see if he can see you now," Hikari said, pressing the required button to do so. Moments later, the light indicating they could enter flashed. "There you go, Hokage-sama will see you now. Oh, and Naruto? Good luck!"

"Thanks, sis!" Naruto exclaimed happily, giving the secretary a hug. The four girls said their goodbyes as well and followed Naruto into the Hokage's office. "Oy! Old Man!" Naruto shouted irreverently, causing Anko and Kurenai to gape in shock. "I need to see my birth certificate!"

"Naruto!" Kurenai angrily berated the blond. "How dare you talk to Hokage-sama like that?!"

Instead of being angry, as the two older kunoichi expected, Sarutobi merely chuckled. "Ah, Naruto, your attitude is as refreshing as ever." The pair of kunoichi continued to gape mutely. "Now, why do you need to see your birth certificate? And why do you need a four kunoichi escort just to see me?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and replied with Hinata's silent suggestion, "The escort isn't for me; it's for my eggs."

"Ah," the Hokage wisely said. "So you've laid them already. May I see them?" The Hokage leaned forward over his desk eagerly as Naruto revealed the eggs. "I see you have a veritable clutch with those six eggs of yours."

"Seven," Anko corrected quietly from behind the others, still cuddling her egg.

"Seven eggs?" Sarutobi asked for conformation. When Naruto nodded, he added, "That is impressive." The wizened Hokage then took a closer look at Anko, and inquired, "Anko-chan, how did Naruto get you to agree to pranking me by using a henge to appear twelve?"

"Why do you always think Naruto is trying to prank you, Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked quietly. She had not expected the others to have heard her.

"So this isn't a prank then," Sarutobi stated. "What did you do this time, Naruto?"

"Um," Naruto hedged. "It turns out I can share my bloodline, and Anko-chan agreed to be my first test subject."

"And when did this occur?" the Hokage asked, looking directly at Kurenai.

"The incident occurred about a week ago," Kurenai admitted.

"And why are you informing me of this only now?"

Kurenai nearly panicked and gushed out the truth, "I felt it would be considered a private clan matter. Once the complication of Anko's age became apparent, we were too busy in Training Ground 44 to tell you at the time. By the time we had finished, I had forgotten all about reporting it. I apologize for my oversight, Hokage-sama." The Jounin-sensei bowed her head awaiting punishment.

"Relax, Kurenai-san," Sarutobi soothed. "I am not going to punish you for respecting the rights of a budding clan. I was merely referring to the necessity of formally inducting Anko-chan into Naruto's clan."

"I have a clan?" Naruto asked stupidly, before remembering the Clan Laws he and his Kage Bunshin had read. "Oh, right. The Bloodline Purity Act. Forgot about that."

"Yes, the BPA," the Professor repeated. "Under it, you are considered the founding member and head of your clan, unless you appoint another member of your clan to act in your stead."

"Wait a minute here," Anko butted in. "What is this about me being made part of Naruto's clan?"

"As you share his bloodline, and are of a different clan, there are only a few ways for the Law to be satisfied," Sarutobi explained, rubbing his temples in an attempt to relieve his growing headache. "You can either be married or adopted into the clan, as Naruto is the founding member. If you choose the adoption method, you can later decided to use marriage, as you and Naruto are not related by birth."

"But Naruto is an orphan!" Ino complained. "How will we be able to know if Anko-chan could be related to him or not without seeing their birth certificates?"

"That is a very good point, Ino-chan," Hokage-sama agreed indulgently. "I will write a message for you five to deliver to the Records Office, allowing you to access all pertinent records about Naruto's and Anko's parentage," as he spook, the old man pulled a scroll in front of him and began to write his orders on it. "I'll also allow you access to the public Shinobi Registration records, in case anything comes up that requires its search."

"Alright!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "Now I can finally find out about my parents!"

"We should get started soon," Kurenai announced. "We have other plans for today that we need to see to as well."

"Hai, Kurenai-sensei," the Genin heartily agreed. "Thanks Old Man/Hokage-sama," the three expressed their gratitude before following Kurenai out of the room.

"Uzumaki Anko?" Anko asked herself as she left the office behind the others. "I suppose that doesn't sound too bad," she admitted with a slight blush before hurrying to catch up with the others.

"It would appear that Naruto is well on his way to fulfilling the Advanced Bloodline Preservation Act," the perverted Hokage said with a perverse giggle before returning to his viewing globe, which was currently showing the women's hot springs. His perverted giggling only increased.

* * *

As the group of five entered the Records Office, the Chunnin secretary sneered in distaste. While he knew better than to actively antagonize the demon brat, he did not have to be any more helpful than strictly required. "Can I help you?" he asked in a strained, if polite, voice. Being rude in front of even a rookie Jounin was a bad move. 

Kurenai strode forward and handed the secretary the Hokage's orders, adding, "We would like to see the birth records of Uzumaki Naruto and Mitarashi Anko."

The Chunnin, who was a distant relative of the Nara main branch, was chronically lazy. Add to that his dislike of Naruto, and you have one incredibly unhelpful secretary. After confirming that he was actually required to allow the group to look, he sighed, and said, "Birth records are on the right, and are sorted by last name and then reverse chronology. Help yourselves." He had, in one of his less lazy moments, reorganized the entirety of the Records Office, to facilitate future laziness. That fact was going to pay off now.

"Aren't you supposed to help us?" Ino asked.

The man shrugged and replied, "I would, but it's my break right now, and I don't feel like it."

Ino stared at the man in disbelief until she saw his name plaque on the desk. "Nara Sosuke. I should have known." With the lack of potential help properly established, the group waded into the Birth Record section.

"Naruto, why don't you make a few Kage Bunshin to help us look?" Kurenai suggested. Moments latter, there were fifteen people looking for the names.

"I found Uzumaki!" one of the Kage Bunshin announced excitedly before opening the file. "But there are only four records in here!"

"That is strange," Kurenai commented as she made her way over.

"Yeah, especially since most of the parent's information is covered by black lines," the Bunshin added.

"Information classified by order of Yondaime Hokage," Kurenai led aloud for the benefit of the others. "Let's see, there are two birth certificates and a death certificate. Let's start with the birth certificates. First we have Uzumaki Naruto, son of CLASSIFIED and Uzumaki Usagi now CLASSIFIED; born on October 10, 2000AS. Next we have Uzumaki Tenten, daughter of CLASSIFIED and Uzumaki Usagi, now CLASSIFIED; born on March 9, 1999 AS."

"I have a sister?" Naruto asked in awe as he looked at the file in question.

"It appears so," Kurenai stated. "Unfortunately, you are the only one with the family name Uzumaki in the village that I know of. Let's continue on to the death records, though I fear I know what we'll find. The first is for Tenten Uzumaki. I'm sorry, Naruto, but it seems your sister died. This is odd. 'Thought to have been killed in the Kyuubi no Kitsune's attack. No body was recovered. No witnesses saw her death."

"So she might still be alive?" Naruto asked, hope shining in his eyes.

"Yes, she might have survived, though there is no way to know for sure," Kurenai admitted. "Please don't get your hopes up. I don't want you to be hurt like that again."

"Alright, I won't," Naruto sadly agreed. "So what's the last death certificate?"

"The last one is for Uzumaki Usagi, now CLASSIFIED. It seems she died in childbirth to you, Naruto. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Kurenai-sensei," Naruto replied, stifling a sob. "I can still make a new family!"

"The thing that confuses me," Kurenai admitted, "is why your mother doesn't have a birth certificate."

"That is strange," Naruto agreed. "Hang on, I know who to ask about it. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A single clone popped into existence, surprising every one. That the clone was created was not a surprise, as Naruto could easily create over two hundred clones. No, the surprise was that this clone was female.

"How can I help you, Naruto?" the clone asked.

"Why are you female?" Ino asked before Naruto could even open his mouth.

"I want to be," the female Naruto answered defensively. "Is that a problem?"

"No, I was just curious," Ino quickly replied.

"Um, Naruko, do you know why Mom doesn't have a birth certificate?" Naruto asked to change the subject.

"Oh, that's easy," the clone said dismissively. "Mom was obviously abandoned at an orphanage when she was young. As you should have remembered, abandoned orphans who don't get adopted have no family name until they reach the age of fifteen, when they can choose their own names." The question answered, the clone asked, "Why did you call me Naruko?"

"Well, Naruko is a girl's name similar to Naruto," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I thought it fit you. Why? Do you have a name you'd prefer?"

"Actually, yes," 'Naruko' stated. "Those of us Kage Bunshin who have a recurring and separate personality than yours have decided to call ourselves by our dominant trait. You can call me Thinker."

"Alright, Thinker. Thanks for the help!" Naruto enthused.

"Oh, and I suggest looking up the orphanage records for Tenten. She might have survived, only to be mistaken for an abandoned baby."

"That's a great idea! Thanks!"

"Well, if you don't need me any longer, I'd like to go out on the town for a bit."

"Sure, go right ahead. Have fun!" Naruto consented, before shooing Thinker out of the Records Office. "Come on! Let's go check the orphanage records if Anko doesn't need any help."

"I'm good," Anko replied. "Considering your parent's were either orphans or classified, we wouldn't be able to tell anyways."

"Ano," Hinata started. "Maybe it'd be easier to check the Shinobi Registration to see if your sister is in it, Naruto," she suggested. "She is just a year older than us, so we could find out if a kunoichi from the previous class graduated who has her birth date."

"That is an excellent idea," Kurenai commented. Why don't you and Ino go look into that?"

The two girls scampered off to the Shinobi Registration section and began looking. Luckily, it was filed in reverse chronological order, so there were only a possible eighteen people to look at. Given that nine were this year's graduates, only nine were left, of which very few were female. That number was quickly reduced to one when birthdays were applied. "We've found it!" Ino exclaimed, causing Naruto to dismiss his Kage Bunshin and rush over, quickly followed by the others. "One Tenten, no family name, graduated in last year's class. She is currently a Genin under a Jounin named Maito Gai."

"All we need to do now," Kurenai explained, "is to find Gai. Then Naruto can finally meet his sister."

"What are we waiting for?" Naruto asked. "Let's go find my sister!" After memorizing what his sister looked like, Naruto rushed out of the office and into Konoha's streets. "I want to find her as soon as possible, so… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A small army of Naruto formed and spread over the entirety of Konoha, looking down all the streets and into every training ground. In less than ten minutes, the orange wave had covered the entirety of the village, causing quite a bit of terror among the villagers who thought Naruto was finally going to kill them all. Before anyone could start the widespread panic, the clones dispersed, their objective completed.

"So, you find her?" Anko asked impatiently. The poor girl was obviously in need of rescue if she was training with Gai.

"Yup," Naruto exclaimed, even more excited than before. "She's in Training Ground 15. Come on, let's go already!" the blond shouted as he led the charge towards the specified training ground.

"I wonder if we'll finally see that damn genjutsu of Gai's get dispelled," Kurenai thought out loud. "Should be interesting to see, in any event. I definitely need to remind Hinata to keep her Byakugan inactive, though. It'd be horrible if she went blind from it."

"I think Naruto's ready to up his weights again," Anko commented as she followed the Genin. "If he can run this fast with that much on him, it isn't enough yet!"

"What is he using now?" Ino asked as she and Hinata struggled to keep up the pace under their one hundred pound vests.

"I think he's at four hundred pounds," Hinata replied from behind the others. As the only one who was not looking forward to the coming confrontation, she found it difficult to find the energy to keep up with Naruto's excitement fueled speed.

It took Naruto five minutes to cross the majority of Konoha to reach the training grounds Team Gai was currently occupying.

* * *

As Thinker left the Records office, she considered her options. She did not have any money that wouldn't disappear as soon as she popped, so she could not do anything more than window shopping. She still had enough of a male mentality to find such an activity horrendously boring, at least when she could not buy anything. She could train, but that was exceedingly tedious, and this was her first day off. She supposed she could go find another Genin team to annoy. 

'Yes', she thought to herself. 'Bothering another team is the best idea.' Thinking back to this year's class she focused on the smartest of the Genin. "And I know just the team to annoy." With that thought in mind, she headed off to find Team 10. "Shikamaru! I will defeat you!" she yelled as she began her hunt, cackling maniacally.

About five minutes later, she was lucky enough to see the pineapple-head sitting across a Shoji board from his Jounin sensei. "What do you want, Naruto?" the genius Genin asked as he saw the girl.

"Hi Shikamaru!" she shouted as she closed in on his location. "I'm not really Naruto. I'm one of his Kage Bunshin. You can call me Thinker. Naruto's giving me the day off, so I thought I could play a game of Shoji with you," the clone explained.

"Why would I want to play against one of Naruto's clones?" Shikamaru asked. "It's too troublesome to waste my time beating someone so easily."

"Why don't you just play one game with me?" Thinker asked, employing Hinata's favorite kinjutsu. "If you beat me in less than five minutes, I'll never ask you to play with me again. How does that sound?"

"Fine," Shikamaru said as his resolve crumbled before the might of the Puppy Eyes no Jutsu. "It'll be less troublesome to beat you now than to have you keep asking me to play with you all the time." Shikamaru motioned for Asuma to stand aside so he could face his new adversary.

As the game started, Thinker made one last request, "Please keep your teammates from attacking me, or we won't be able to finish our game." Thinker did not want them to hit her, and definitely wanted to keep Shino's bugs away from her. Even if she would not feel it, really, being eaten alive was not on her list of things to do today. Seeing the speculative look on Shikamaru's face, she quickly added, "And then I'll never stop bothering you!" Shikamaru groaned and nodded his consent before informing his fellow Genin of the situation. And thus Thinker's boredom was banished, for the next few minutes if no longer.

* * *

"Five hundred ten! Five hundred eleven! Five hundred twelve!" a loud voice cried from within the training ground. Accompanying each cry was the thud of flesh against wood, emanating from a green clad youth with orange leg warmers as he slammed a bandaged fist into a thick training log. The log was slowly gaining an indentation from where the boy repeatedly punched it. 

In another part of the training ground, a long haired Hyuuga was doing a kata that could only be for the Juuken style. He was of the branch house, as he wore his forehead protector in its proper place, like all Branch House members did. As he was performing the kata, he dodged the various objects his sensei would throw at him, such as a stick, a rock, a senbon, a kunai, and occasionally a training log. The boy was quick to get out of the way of those when they came at him.

In yet another part of the yard, a girl in a pink pantsuit, with her hair in twin buns, was practicing with throwing weapons of all varieties. She threw dozens of kunai in the general direction of her target, arcing them in to hit the bull's-eye from multiple angles. This feat was followed by threading senbon through the thumb holes of each kunai. All of this was accomplished from over one hundred feet away from the target and only took thirty seconds. In fact, the senbon had been thrown as all of the kunai hit the target, allowing only microseconds for aim before throwing the thin needles.

Overseeing the Genin's training was a green clad Jounin who would throw random objects at the Hyuuga from time to time. Such as that orange clad boy who had appeared on top of his throwing pile just as he grabbed his next object. Maito Gai blinked at that, wondering where such an object could have come from.

"What was that for?" Naruto demanded after he landed from his unplanned flight, flipping to his feet about half way between Gai and the Hyuuga.

"Yes," Kurenai said from the edge of the training field, "Is there a reason you threw one of my Genin at the Hyuuga?"

"Yosh! In my youthful training of Neji I grabbed your youthful subordinate by mistake!" the green Jounin shouted, flashing his 'Nice Guy Pose.' As he gyrated around to face Kurenai with a thumb up, he smiled a horribly bright smile, resulting in a ping off his teeth. The female Genin covered their eyes at the Jounin's spandex covered display.

"My eyes! They burn!" Ino moaned in pain, nearly trying to claw out the offending organs to reduce the pain.

"_Your_ eyes?" Hinata shot back incredulously. "I had my Byakugan active! At least you didn't have to see past the spandex!"

"Great," Anko muttered. "I'll go get the mind bleach. I'll meet up with you at our usual training ground, then." With that, she headed back home to pick up suitable clothing for her elder self. It would not do to be turned down at the local liquor store. The Genin were going to need a LOT of shochu to get over this meeting. More than she had stashed in any of her supply caches around the village.

Back in the training ground, the three practicing Genin slowed to a stop as the intruders persisted in their existence. Neji blinked as he looked at his cousin, wondering when the girl began to have anything resembling a spine. Tenten wondered why these rookies were taking up their training time with their inconvenient interruption.

Gai's clone, on the other hand, rushed up to the new arrivals and announced, "I'm Rock Lee, a Genius of Hard Work!" He followed his introduction with his own rendition of the 'Nice Guy Pose,' sending the girl's to the ground rolling in agony, trying to get the image out of their minds. Hinata thought herself fortunate for having deactivated her Byakugan before then.

"Lee!" Gai exclaimed. "That's the way to show your Flames of Youth!"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried, quickly joining his superior in a manly hug.

"Lee!" Gai cried back, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried yet again, tears flowing from his own eyes. As Team 8 stared in horror, a brilliant sunset formed behind the pair, despite it being near midday and them facing south. As the sunset appeared, the remaining members of Team Gai palmed their faces and shook their heads before resolutely ignoring everything and returning to their practice. Having seen the spectacle so many times already, Neji did not even deign to deactivate his Byakugan, a mistake he was not soon to forget.

"What is this?" the confused Naruto asked. "Some sort of a genjutsu?" Naruto formed the Ram seal and compressed a minute amount of chakra, for him anyways, in his stomach, releasing it with a loud "Kai!" A barely visible sphere of chakra rushed from Naruto, spreading twenty feet before dissipating. Despite being only ten feet away, the genjutsu was not affected in the slightest. "Does it need more power to break?" Naruto wondered aloud as he began to compress much more chakra in his stomach.

Kurenai's eyes widened perceptibly as she figured out the Genin's plan. Her eyes were locked onto the blond and his light show, entirely composed of the chakra he was molding and compacting into his stomach. The fact that the chakra was clearly in the visible spectrum was a bad sign. That some of the chakra was red was even worse. "Hinata!" She shouted quickly, not even looking at the girl. "Byakugan off! Now!"

"KAI!" Naruto roared as he released more compressed chakra than the average ANBU squad used in a day. A solid dome of blue light streaked with red slowly expanded outward from the bow, creating a weak pressure wave that caused trees to bend, ninja to affix their feet to the ground with chakra, civilians to brace themselves against the force, and every genjutsu it touched to implode under the pressure. The Hokage's peeping orb showed only snow for several minutes and several Hyuuga to go temporarily blind. The chakra pulse also caused a surprising number of spies to be caught as their disguises dissolved, which might be the only thing to keep Naruto from being arrested once he is found to be the cause of the disturbance. Only one genjutsu withstood the tide of chakra, the one Naruto was trying hardest to break. There, in the clearing, stood Gai and Lee, still hugging with a sunset backdrop.

"Arg!" screamed Neji as he rolled around on the ground, clutching his head in pain. "My eyes! I can't see! How could this happen?!" As his all seeing eyes failed him for the first time, Neji began to panic.

"Oh, stop being such a baby," Ino called to the pain filled boy, having no sympathy for people who do remarkably stupid things. "When someone says something like 'Byakugan off! Now!' it's usually a good idea to listen." Looking around the area, she whistled in awe, "Wow, Naruto, you really did it this time. I think you cleared out every genjutsu in the village. Well, except for that one anyways."

"How did that thing survive?" Kurenai asked. While she knew Gai's special genjutsu did not have any practical purpose beyond torture, the fact that it could survive a demon powered chakra pulse specifically targeting it was astounding.

"A ninja never reveals his tricks," Gai stated wisely as he dispelled his technique. Lee pulled out a little note book and quickly jotted his role model's words down. "So, what brought you by, Kurenai-san?"

Kurenai sighed in frustration. She had been trying to figure out that genjutsu for the last three years, to no avail. With a resigned huff, she answered, "We're actually here because of Naruto."

"Really?" Gai queried. "Why would he have you coming here?"

"I think it'd be best to let Naruto answer that. Naruto?"

"Huh? Oh, sure," Naruto started, having not been paying the most attention to the conversation because he was trying to figure out why the genjutsu survived even a chakra pulse of that strength. "Right. Well, I looked at my birth certificate and found out that I had a sister, who was thought to be dead. Anyways, since no body was found, we looked through the orphanage records and the Shinobi Registration records, and found out that someone with the same given name and birth date as my sister was a registered kunoichi." At this point, Team Gai was listening attentively, although Neji was also quietly sulking about his blindness. "Tenten," Naruto dramatically stated, "I am your brother!"

"You can't be; I was abandoned," Tenten said sadly. "I don't have any family, let alone siblings."

"Look into your heart," Hinata softly urged. "You know it to be true."

"I, I want to," Tenten admitted shakily, "but I just don't know." While the girl would love to have a family, she still could not get past the fact that her family had abandoned her, but not her brother. "Our parents did abandon me, after all," she added glumly. "And we don't even know if we're really related. I mean, how do we know I'm even the same Tenten that's your sister?"

Naruto engulfed his sister, related by blood or not, in a hug and said, "They didn't abandon you, Tenten. Mom would have never have done that."

"How do you know that?" the distraught girl demanded.

"Because Mom would never do that to her children, especially after having been abandoned herself."

"But then why was I in the orphanage?" Tenten quietly asked.

"Mom died giving birth to me," Naruto admitted with a heavy heart, "and all of the information on Dad is classified. I couldn't even find his name; our family name is the one Mom picked for herself when she turned fifteen. You were thought dead in the Kyuubi's 'attack.'" Naruto subconsciously grimaced in distaste but continued, "So I doubt they checked if you had parents when they found you. But if you really want to make sure that we're related, we can stop by the hospital and have them check. Even if we aren't related by blood, I'll still be your brother, if you want."

"You don't care if I'm really your sister or not?" Tenten asked in shock. "Why not?"

"Well," Naruto hedged, "there are somethings thicker than water, and what ties my family together is one of them. We can still go check at the hospital if you want, or we could wait and do it another time."

Tenten hugged her future brother back and said, "If we're going to be a family anyways, I guess we can wait a bit before finding out if we're really siblings or not."

"The meeting between long lost siblings is a beautiful thing, is it not Kurenai?" Gai asked, going into another 'Nice Guy Pose.' Before Kurenai could comment, he continued, "Tenten, you have the rest of the day off to get to know your brother better!"

"H-hai, Gai-sensei!" Tenten replied, surprised that Gai would let anyone skip training for anything short of a full emergency. "Thank you, Gai-sensei!" After a quick bow to the green Jounin, she allowed Naruto to drag her off into the village, followed by the others of Team 8.

"So, we're heading back to the Forest and meet up with Anko now?" Ino asked, referring to Training Ground 44.

"I guess it would be best," Naruto agreed. "We can't let anyone hear the rest of our conversation."

"Wait," Tenten interrupted. "Why are all of you coming with us? Shouldn't it be just Naruto and me?"

"It would be," Ino replied, "if we weren't the closest thing to family Naruto has ever had."

Seeing that Tenten was going to ask another question, Kurenai cut in saying, "Let's get to the privacy of the Forest and we'll talk there, alright?" Seeing the girl's agreement, she nodded and picked up the pace a little, wanting to get to the Forest as quickly as possible.

* * *

Shikamaru sweated as he faced his most difficult opponent to date. After calculating every variable, he made his move. There was only one thing his adversary could do to win now, and no one would ever think of that maneuver. Or so he thought 

Thinker scrutinized the board for a few seconds and made her own move.

"What!?" Shikamaru yelled in disbelief. "How could a clone of Naruto beat me?"

"Come now, Shika-chan, you can't win every game," Thinker replied with a smirk. "We could always play again, if you'd like."

"Yes," Shikamaru agreed. "We'll play another game. I will not allow you to hold this small victory over me!"

Thinker smirked, knowing that the lazy boy would not underestimate her again. This was going to be fun. "Bring it on, then," she said as she set up the Shoji board for another game. Naruto was not training today, so she needed some way to spend her time, and this was the best she could think of. Besides, it got that lazy Jounin off his ass and training his other team members for a change.

* * *

"What are we doing here?" Tenten asked nervously as she looked at the gates clearly marked 'Stay Out' and other warnings. "Isn't this area forbidden?" 

"Bah," Anko scoffed, carrying a large quantity of booze. "To a Shinobi, 'forbidden' really just means 'too dangerous for normal use.'" She pointed to Naruto and said, "For instance, your brother can use a forbidden Jounin level cloning technique better than an 'elite' Jounin can."

"Granted, he was almost killed for it," Kurenai commented. "At least until he returned the Forbidden Scroll of Seals."

"The forest isn't that bad," Ino added. "As long as you keep an eye out for the killer insects and stuff."

"We've spent about a week in here, after reaching the tower in the center," Hinata added.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it," Tenten acquiesced. "But if we die, I'm going to kill you all!"

"Sure thing, kid," Anko laughed. "Let's get going before it gets any later." Without further ado, she led the group further into the forest. Naruto quickly created a dozen Kage Bunshin to act as guards, preventing any of the forest's less pleasant inhabitants from getting too close to the group. After the half hour jog, they had reached the tower that had become akin to the team's official home.

"Alright," Kurenai said as she opened the door to the tower. "We should have enough privacy in here."

"Why do we need to go so far out of our way for just a little privacy?" Tenten asked.

"That's Naruto's S-Class secret to give," Anko said in a chipper tone. "Ino and Hinata already know enough of the story, so they might as well get started on forgetting all about Gai," the Special Jounin added, handing the two girls in question a bottle of shochu each.

"Aren't we too young to drink?" Ino questioned.

"If you're old enough to kill and be mentally scarred by Gai, you're old enough to drown the memories out with booze!" Anko retorted with a somewhat crazed grin.

"Can't argue with that logic," Ino commented before taking a swig from her bottle. Hinata quickly followed her example.

"So what's this secret?" Tenten inquired.

"Well, before Naruto can tell you, you have to realize that you cannot tell anyone else about this, not even your teammates," Kurenai cautioned. "On the other hand, feel free to talk to Gai; he already knows. Do you agree to this?"

After Tenten nodded her agreement, Naruto took over and began his tale. "When the Kyuubi came to Konoha, looking to raid our carrot patches, its hunger was mistaken for bloodlust. The village panicked and launched a preemptive strike. This caused Kyu-Ohki to defend himself, which made the situation escalate even further. Finally, after a good portion of Konoha had been destroyed, Yondaime was forced to use a forbidden and very powerful fuinjutsu to seal the Kyuubi into an infant. That infant was me; I'm the container of the Kyuubi no Cabbit."

Tenten backed away from Naruto until her back was against the wall, halting her progress, her eves wide in fear. "Y-you mean y-you're the K-kyuubi?" she whimpered as she cowered against the wall. The orphanage she had been raised in would always told them that they had to behave, or the Kyuubi would get them in their sleep.

"Naruto is not the Kyuubi!" Ino shouted, her inhibitions stunted by the alcohol induced buzz. "I'd be the first to know! I've been in his head, you know!" She staggered over to Naruto and plopped down next to him, leaning against him for support. "Do you think I'd do this with a demon?" she demanded, hugging the now depressed boy.

Tenten looked at the girl in shock, wondering how she could stay so close to Konoha's version of the boogieman. Moments later, her brain began processing logically again and she realized several things. First, since the first time she met him, the only time she felt any hostile intent was when he tried to dispel Gai-sensei's genjutsu. Second, none of the people around him at the moment were showing any fear. Finally, and most importantly, Naruto is her brother, her only remaining family, and a good family sticks together; a demon would never care for its human family. All of these facts led her to one conclusion. "No, you're definitely not a demon," she said softly as she slowly approached Naruto. She enveloped him in a hug, adding, "I'm sorry, Naruto, it's just a lot to take in at once."

"Here, have some booze," Anko exclaimed, waving another bottle of shochu around. "It'll help take the edge off."

"Don't worry, Tenten," Naruto started as he returned her hug. "I took the news even worse than that when I found out about it. If it hadn't been for Iruka-sensei, who knows what would have happened."

"You wouldn't be on my team, for one," Kurenai commented. "And I think you'll prove far more useful than Kiba would."

"Wait," Tenten suddenly said. "Isn't the demon in you the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

"Funny story, that," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head. "The fox was killed and eaten about a thousand years ago."

"Eaten?" Tenten asked incredulously. "What could eat the most powerful of the Bijuu?"

"**Me,"** came the reply from Naruto's mouth, yet not in his voice. "**I'm Kyu-Ohki, the Kyuubi no Cabbit. Glad to make your acquaintance."**

"Eek!" the stressed girl squealed as she jumped to the ceiling.

"**Oh, come on,"** the demon reproached soothingly. "**What can I possibly do to you from behind the seal?"**

"Other than talk to you, o' course," Hinata slurred, beginning to get rather smashed.

"So, are there any other surprises I should hear about while I'm still drunk?" Tenten asked.

"Actually, yeah, there are a few," Naruto hedged, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess we should start with clan matters. Then again, most of the other things are clan matters."

"Get on with it!" a slightly tipsy Anko demanded, waving a kunai.

"Right, right. Anyways, I am the founding member of the Masu bloodline, thanks to Kyu-Ohki. Now, I can't use a normal henge, but I can control my age and gender. I can also set up permanent telepathic links between a person and the group, and I can transfer my bloodline to others, as Anko-chan has tested. This also means that she'll be adopted into the clan because of certain clan rules. I'm also going to be subjected to the Bloodline Protection Act, forcing me into a polygamous marriage. On the bright side, I'll get to watch Sasuke deal with it, too. Oh, and I agreed to lay a bunch of eggs for Kyu-Ohki so he'd tell me how to use my Masu Henge correctly. Want to see them? You are their aunt after all."

"Eggs? Now I know you're lying," Tenten accused with a smile. It was a rather funny joke, after all, at least it lightened up the mood after all the other shocks she had received.

"No I'm not!" Naruto shot back. "I really did lay the eggs, see?" With a flourish, he revealed his sling of eggs. There was a loud thump as Tenten hit Naruto's lap in a dead faint.

"I think she took that rather well, actually," Anko joked.

"As the only one sober and not pinned by someone else, I'll go check the first aid kit for smelling salts," Kurenai sighed as she got up to get the med kit. When she returned, she waved the foul smelling substance under Tenten's nose, causing the unconscious girl to jolt awake.

"You mean it's all true?" the brunette asked after her mind cleared. Naruto nodded an affirmative. With a surprising calm, Tenten opened her hand towards Anko and demanded, "More booze, and keep it coming." After receiving another bottle of shochu, she noticed something strange, so she asked, "Am I hallucinating, or is that egg rolling towards me?"

One of the eggs, finally out of the sling and able to move, was indeed moving towards its aunt. "This is great, Sis!" Naruto exclaimed. "The egg's chosen you to be its partner. Go on; pick it up."

"You mean one of the eggs you laid wants me, its aunt, to be its partner?" Tenten asked.

"Yup. Isn't it great?" Naruto cheerily confirmed.

"Just checking," Tenten replied as she made a move to pick up the egg; she missed by about a foot. After another five tries, she finally managed to grab the egg, right before it could roll into her lap. As the feeling of warmth and contentment consumed her, Tenten could only joke, "You know, Naruto, you have a really flat chest for a girl." From there, the poor overwhelmed girl broke down into hysterical laughter.

"Hey!" Naruto protested. "I'm not flat chested when I'm a girl!" The drunken girls snorted and joined Tenten in laughter.

"I think we'll need to let them sober up before we do anything else," Kurenai noted as she observed the four drunken females. After looking at all the unopened bottles still waiting, she sighed, "I guess me might as well join them for the time being. They aren't going to stop anytime soon." With that, she tossed a bottle to Naruto and opened her own, quickly drinking it down.

Soon, Hinata, Ino, and Tenten were out of the unofficial drinking contest, having passed out after only a few bottles more than any twelve or thirteen year old should ever drink in one sitting. Half an hour later, and Kurenai bowed out of the drinking, having reached her limit before heading into potential hangover conditions. Someone was going to need to be functioning properly in the morning, and as the Jounin-sensei of the team, it fell upon her to be the responsible one. The irony of being the responsible one after allowing her entire team to drink themselves unconscious was not lost on her. She headed to bed to sleep off her intoxication, leaving Naruto and Anko still awake and drinking.

"Hey, Naruto," Anko asked after another two hours of nonstop drinking, "why aren't I getting drunk?"

"I don't know," Naruto replied. "But this juice tastes kind of funny."

"That's shochu, not juice," Anko deadpanned. "It's about twenty five percent alcohol, and should have knocked both of us onto our asses by now."

"I guess that could explain the burning," Naruto commented.

"I'm pretty sure I can pull of katon jutsu without chakra," Anko began, "So why aren't I drunk?!"

"Well, my masu leached lead from my bones earlier, so I guess they might help protect against any poison," Naruto supposed.

"You mean I'll never get drunk again?" Anko asked with wide eyed anxiety.

"I don't know," Naruto shot back. "It's not like we actually know anything about the Masu Bloodline, after all."

"Damn you Naruto," Anko whined. "I wanna get drunk!"

"Well, if we finish off the rest of these. We might get lucky," Naruto suggested. Anko immediately began chugging as though her life depended on it. After another hour, both Anko and Naruto passed out, from exhaustion, not inebriation.

* * *

"Why does my head hurt so much," Tenten groaned as she sat up, holding her head in an attempt to stop Lee and Gai from sparring inside it. She was currently failing horribly. 

"That would be a hangover," Kurenai stated as she looked over the assembled girls.

Anko looked upon the pile of entangled flesh and commented, "And this would be the awkward morning."

Hinata tried to sit up and failed, as Tenten's legs were across her chest. Activating her Byakugan for the brief second before the wave of pain crashed against the inside of her head, Hinata discovered that Ino's legs were tangled in hers, yet the blonde's head was in Tenten's lap. "Keep the noise down, please," the bluette whimpered.

"What happened last night?" Ino moaned.

"You all got drunk," Naruto stated as he walked in from the kitchen. "Want some tea? It might help with the hangover. At least it shouldn't hurt any."

"I suggest taking some vitamins and some fruit juice," Kurenai said from the entrance to the main room. "I also think you should stay away from your team for at least a few hours, Tenten. Loud noises will only make it worse."

"At least you got drunk," Anko whined as she entered the room, remembering to keep her voice down, the last of the shochu in hand. "Naruto and I passed out before I had even a decent buzz going! And it's all Naruto's fault!"

"How was I supposed to know that the masu would make it impossible for us to get drunk?" Naruto demanded.

"Children," Kurenai interrupted, referring to both Naruto and Anko. "Stop your bickering and let the girls recover. We have several important things to finish before the end of the day."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"Well, for starters, we need to get Anko and Tenten registered as part of your clan," Kurenai answered. "And we still need to see if Hanabi will get a cabbit or not."

"I guess we should head to the records department again," Anko sighed. "I just know this is going to be a paperwork nightmare. Come on you three, get up." The three girls groaned but complied. After a short breakfast, the group made their way back towards the Hokage's tower.

* * *

"I see you're back," Nara Sosuke stated flatly as the group trouped into his office. "What do you want this time? I'm in the middle of a game of solitaire, so make it quick." 

"I'd like to add two people to my Clan Registry, please," Naruto asked politely, hoping the lazy bastard would actually help this time.

"Sure, sure. Go find it and bring it here. I'll take care of it then," Sosuke instructed. As an afterthought, he added, "Clan Registries are on the left and are sorted alphabetically."

"Thanks for nothing!" Naruto called back as he headed into the Clan Registry suppository. Moments later he returned with a very modest scroll. "Why is my scroll so small?" he asked as he placed the thin scroll on the counter.

The Nara opened the Registry and gave it a quick once over. "You're the only person in your clan, so you don't need a scroll as thick as the Hyuuga," he explained. "As your family grows, so will the scroll. Then again, the Hyuuga never come here for that anyways. They keep their official scroll in the Hyuuga compound and just send us update reports to amend our own records. Arrogant bastards." Suddenly, the Chunnin noticed the presence of the Hyuuga heir, and stuttered out, "No offense intended, Hyuuga-sama."

"None taken," Hinata replied. "Although we are usually married before having children, so bastards doesn't really fit, now does it?"

"N-no Hyuuga-sama."

"So can I add people to the Registry now?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Sure," Sosuke said. "All you have to do is sign their names in with your blood; as the head of the Clan, only you can add or remove members. Then all you do is add a drop of their blood next to their name."

"Are you sure you want me to add you two?" Naruto asked Anko and Tenten.

"Any clan is better than no clan," Tenten stated, nodding firmly. "I'm sure."

"I think I'll take you up on the offer as well," Anko added. "Between changing my name and the Masu Henge, I might be able to have a normal life now." After waiting a minute for Naruto to get started, which he still had not, Anko pulled out a kunai and sweetly asked. "Are you going to add us now, or do you need a little help to get the blood flowing?"

"No, I'm fine," Naruto quickly insisted as he saw the gleam in Anko's eyes. Biting his thumb, Naruto added both names to the Registry, before Anko could get into bloodletting. "There you go, just add your blood and it's all set." With a deft poke of her kunai, Anko's blood was added to the Registry, soon to be followed by Tenten's.

"Good, now all you have to do is return the Registry to its proper location, and the additions to your clan will be finalized," Sosuke announced.

"Why can't you put it back where it goes?" Hinata asked.

"Because I would have to get up to do that, and Uzumaki-san here is already standing."

"Do you actually do anything here?" Ino asked the Nara.

"Well, after I properly organized the place, not really," the chronically lazy Chunnin admitted. "All I really have to do is make sure no one leaves the room with anything they're not supposed to."

"Keep up the good work, then," Kurenai commented as she began shooing the Genin out the door. "Come on, we don't want to spend our entire day in this musty old room. We still have things to do today!"

"We're coming, we're coming," Anko complained. "You don't have to push us."

"Finally, now I can return to my solitaire," Sosuke muttered after the mob had left his office. "Black ten on red jack..."

Outside the administration building, brother and sister were preparing to go their separate ways. "One last thing, Tenten," Naruto declared as soon as they were away from the building. "Do you want to really join the family now?"

"What do you mean?" the girl asked.

"He wants to know if you want to be added to our mental network," Ino explained. "It's what Naruto was talking about yesterday as being thicker than blood."

"Please say yes," Hinata urged. "We'd love to have you in the family."

"When you put it that way," Tenten said slowly, "I'd love to join."

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed as he started the hand seals. "Ram, rabbit, dragon, boar. Do you accept?" he asked as he finished.

"Yes," Tenten answered. Seconds later she gasped in shock at the feeling of being connected to five other minds, even if it is only for communication.

"Well, we've got to get over to the Hyuuga compound now," Naruto said a little sadly.

"And you should probably be getting back to Gai soon," Kurenai added.

"We'll see you tonight, alright?" Naruto asked. "Anyways, we'll see you later, bye, Sis."

"Bye, Bro," Tenten said before heading back towards Gai's favored training ground. Naruto and the others headed the other direction, towards the Hyuuga Compound.

* * *

As the team approached the Hyuuga compound, they were met by the same guard as had led them to Hiashi the last time, and the same one who had attacked Naruto on his first full day as a Genin. "You again?" Kurenai asked in surprise. "How is it that we keep running into you whenever we come here?" 

The guard shrugged and replied, "Just lucky, I guess."

"What is your name, anyways?" Ino asked.

"Eh? Oh, my name..." the guard started, surprised anyone would actually want to know, and decided to have some fun. "There are some who call me... Tim."

Everyone stared for a second before rolling their eyes. "So what is you're name really?" Anko asked sweetly, visibly fingering a kunai.

'Tim' gulped and answered, "My name is Hyuuga Taro."

"Good boy," Anko stated, putting her kunai away. "Was that so hard?"

"I was just trying to be funny; do you have any idea how boring guard duty is?" Taro commented. "Anyways, what can I do for you?"

"We would like to see Hiashi-sama," Kurenai announced. "Tell him it's about the agreement we made during our last visit."

"I'll go do that. Please wait here for a moment." With that, Taro was gone, having rushed into the compound, most likely to escape the crazy kunoichi.

"He sure is faster today than he was the last time we were here," Anko commented.

"I think that might be your fault," Kurenai stated. "Threatening people with kunai over something as trivial as their name tends to make them nervous around you."

"Really?" Anko asked with obviously faked innocence. "Who would have guessed that."

Taro, having made it to Hiashi's office in record time returned and announced, "Hiashi-sama will see you now. Follow me, please."

As the group followed the guard formerly known as... Tim, Naruto turned to Hinata and asked, "Couldn't you just lead us there, Hinata?"

"Well, I suppose so," Hinata replied, "but Father so enjoys formalities."

"Ah," Naruto commented eloquently. "So we're lead there just to make him look more important?"

"And to make sure you don't touch anything," their guide added, glaring at Anko, who was once again about to poke a vase. "Please stop that, Anko-san," he said tiredly. "Each of those costs more than a single A Rank mission would pay." Anko could only whistle in awe of the price. She did stop trying to poke them, however.

"Why do you have such expensive stuff?" Naruto asked. "Wouldn't it be better to use that money on something important instead?"

"The Hyuuga Clan," Hinata explained, "takes pride in its nobility and displays it at every opportunity."

"So you're saying that most of your family just likes to show off?" Naruto questioned.

"Pretty much," Hinata confirmed.

"Alright, we're here," the guard announced. "I'd suggest continuing your conversation about the Hyuuga's tastes later." After letting the group into the office, the guide was dismissed.

"Greetings, Kurenai-san, Anko-san, Hinata, Ino, and Naruto," Hiashi started. "Have you done as I've requested so far?"

"I've looked up my family," Naruto declared, "but it won't help you much."

"Oh?" Hiashi asked. "And why not?"

"My mother was an orphan, and abandoned, and everything about my father is classified," Naruto explained.

"Classified on who's order?" Hiashi demanded.

"The Yondaime's," Naruto clarified. "I might have a sister, though. You might know her; she's Tenten, and on a Hyuuga Neji's team.

"Well, I guess that will have to do," the Hyuuga head relented. "What else did you come here for?"

"Well, you said you wanted your daughter to have a chance at getting one of my cabbits, so here we are."

"You have them with you?" Hiashi asked, looking the group over without the aid of his Byakugan.

"Of course," Naruto scoffed. "You can't just leave eggs laying around unprotected, you know."

"Eggs?" Hiashi asked in surprise. "Never mind. I'll have Hanabi called in." The assembled group waited for the newest arrival to make her appearance in an awkward silence.

"You called for me, father?" the young Hyuuga asked as she entered the office.

"Indeed I have," Hiashi stated. "Naruto, here, wants to try an experiment with his advanced bloodline that could help protect the Byakugan. In exchange for this chance, I have made him agree to give you the chance to have your own cabbit."

"What is a cabbit?" Hanabi asked, having never heard the term before.

"Well," Naruto began, rubbing the back of his head, "a cabbit looks like a mix of a cat and a rabbit, but is much more intelligent. Your father asked if I would give you one as a pet. I will not."

"Then why am I here?" Hanabi interrupted.

"I said I wouldn't give you one, not that you wouldn't be getting one," Naruto explained. "Cabbits are far too intelligent to be pets, so they'll be more along the lines of a partner, similar to the Inuzuka's dogs or the Aburame's insects. Because of this, the cabbit has to choose you.

"Then again, none of them might choose you at all," Naruto continued. "So now the question is whether you want to risk getting your hopes up and being disappointed if none of them choose you, or never knowing if you could have had one at all. So, what's your decision?"

"I'm sure that I am deserving of a cabbit," Hanabi stated smugly.

"How do you figure that?" Anko demanded.

"It's simple, really," the seven year old explained. "As a Hyuuga, I am naturally superior to one of your low standing, so I would be more worthy of such a partner."

"Then why did Tenten and I get cabbits," Anko started with an evil smirk, "when no Hyuuga has? Your sister and your cousin were both close enough for Naruto to have noticed if Neji would have gotten one, so what do you say about that?"

A small amount of fear showed on the girl's face as she tried to rationalize this. "Obviously, it is because neither Hinata nor Neji are true Hyuuga. Neji is from the Branch House, and Hinata is too weak to be a real Hyuuga."

"Hinata? Weak?" Naruto asked. "Hahahahaha! She isn't weak at all; you just don't know her as well as you think you do."

"I always beat her when we spar," Hanabi asserted. "She is definitely weak."

"Does she lose because you are so much stronger, or because she doesn't want to hurt you?" Ino asked. "Have you ever seen Hinata fight someone she didn't have to worry about hurting?"

"What do you mean?" Hanabi asked, not sure how she felt about what she was being told.

"Hinata is the kindest person I have ever met," Ino explained. "She tries to not hurt anyone if she can help it. You need to watch her spar against Naruto if you want to see her go all out."

"Against Naruto?" Hanabi parroted. "Why would she go all out against a teammate if she won't even try against me?"

"Mainly," Naruto cut in, "because I can take a full Hakke Rokujuyon Sho with no ill effects." Hanabi could only gape at that revelation. "So, ready to see if you'll get an egg?"

"I guess so," Hanabi agreed hesitantly. "What do I need to do?"

"Mostly, you just sit there," Naruto said as he removed the egg sling from under his jacket. "I'll place the eggs on the desk here, and if one of them chooses you, it'll start rolling towards you. Or something like that." With a flourish, Naruto placed the five remaining eggs on the table.

Everyone, including even Hiashi gathered around, trying to get a better look at the eggs. "Is that one moving?" Hanabi asked as one egg wiggled but stayed in place.

"I don't think so," Hinata replied.

Suddenly, an egg twitched violently and rolled over. "Is it just me or are the eggs reacting stronger each time they chose someone?" Ino asked as the egg quickly rolled over to Hanabi.

"I knew I was worthy of a cabbit," Hanabi said smugly, looking down upon the egg before her on the desk. Hiashi stood back and tried to look as though he felt no emotion at the joining of lives before him, much to his daughters' disappointment.

"You are sure that this cabbit will not shed?" Hiashi asked stiffly.

"It's too late to worry about that now," Naruto crowed happily. "So, Hanabi, when are you going to pick your egg up?"

"Oh, right," Hanabi started, shaking herself out of her disappointment. Carefully, she reached down and picked up the egg before her. As soon as she touched the egg, her demeanor changed, as though a switch was flipped. Gone was Hanabi, the seven year old Hyuuga brat. In her place stood Hanabi, seven year old girl. Her face seemed to shine with a new inner light as she tenderly held her egg, nuzzling it against her cheek. "I've always wanted a pet, "she reverently murmured, "But I can already tell that this is going to be so much better than a cat could ever be." Spontaneously and unexpectedly, she hugged Naruto, shouting, "Thank you so much!"

Naruto chucked and ruffled the girl's dark hair. "No problem, Squirt," Naruto replied fondly.

While Hanabi was in too great of a euphoric high to catch anything more than Naruto's tone, Hiashi was too worried about another matter t notice. "Why is my daughter reacting this way?" he calmly demanded.

"I don't really know," Naruto admitted. "But you could ask Anko; she's already gotten her egg."

Hiashi quirked an eyebrow towards Anko and inquired, "Indeed?"

"It's the best feeling I've ever had," Anko gushed. "It just makes you so warm and content."

"Hm," Hiashi gave a dignified grunt. "Hanabi, that is enough. Put that egg down immediately," he commanded, ignoring how everyone was motioning for him to stop talking.

"Never," the girl hissed as she ducked away from Naruto, backing into the far corner of the room. Her Byakugan activated instinctively as she scanned the room with wide, feral eyes as she clutched the egg tightly to her chest. One hand was placed to the fore, glowing a dull blue as Hanabi prepared to use her Juuken on all who approached.

"You really shouldn't try to make her let go of that egg," Ino commented.

"Why not?" Hiashi demanded. "I am her father, after all. She should obey me."

"Anko threatened to gut Naruto when he only implied that she let go of her egg," Kurenai explained. "We're actually somewhat lucky that she hasn't tried to attack us."

"So what do you suggest I do?" Hiashi asked as he relented.

"Letting her keep the egg should help," Naruto suggested. "And reassure her that you won't try to take it away again." Turning towards the youngest Hyuuga in the room, he demonstrated, holding his hands out placatingly, and soothingly murmured, "Don't worry Hanabi-chan; I'm not going to try to take your egg." The girls immediately followed suit and soon Hanabi was much calmer. She was still hiding in the corner, but her posture was much less defensive, though she was keeping her father under constant surveillance.

"If that is what it takes to return Hanabi to a civilized state, then so be it," Hiashi declared with a heavy sigh. Holding his hands up in supplication, he stated, "Hanabi. I promise I will not try to take your egg from you. Now, stop this inappropriate behavior immediately." Considering his voice had no inflection, at all, it was hardly surprising to the others in the room when Hanabi refused to budge from her corner.

"You could sound like you mean it," Naruto suggested, earning an elbow to the side from Ino for not being properly polite.

Hiashi grimaced briefly before forcing his voice to sound comforting. "Hanabi-chan, I really promise that I will not take your egg away." He grimaced again as he realized that his voice was a far cry from comforting, because he had not used it for such in many years.

"Promise? Really?" Hanabi asked from her corner, her head cocked to the right with an inquisitive look on her face.

"I promise," Hiashi agreed in his normal, dead tone. Luckily, it was enough for his daughter. Hanabi hesitantly stood and edged out from the corner while still keeping some distance between herself and the others in the room. As she continued to calm down, her Byakugan deactivated, allowing Hinata to sneak behind her unobserved.

Once she was in range, the elder sister pounced the younger, crying, "Hanabi-chan, I'm so proud of you!" Hiashi just groaned and rubbed his temples irritably while the others watched on in amusement.

"Personal space," Hanabi almost whined as Hinata continued to hug her. "Need air!" the girl gasped as she was being crushed in the embrace of her older sister.

"Um, Hinata," Ino started nervously as she watched the two sisters. "I think Hanabi needs to breathe. She's starting to turn a little blue."

"Huh?" Hinata asked before looking down at her younger sibling, who was beginning to turn a nice purple. "Oh! Sorry, Hanabi!" she exclaimed while releasing the girl enough for her to breathe but not to escape. "I didn't think I'd gotten so strong already."

On the other side of the emotional group, Hiashi looked at the clock and cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. Once everyone was looking at him, he emotionlessly stated, "While I would love for us to continue this meeting, I have an important appointment in twenty minutes and need to prepare. I'll have a Branch Member see you out."

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama. It was good of you to see us so promptly." Kurenai said with a bow. "Come along, team; we still have training to do today."

"Hinata and Hanabi seem to finally be getting along, despite my interference." He sighed again. "How am I ever supposed to be a father, let alone a leader, if I cannot even safeguard my own daughter from the members of my own family? Damn those old fools on the council and damn me for being so weak. The clan is at its own throat over the caged-bird seal, and I can barely protect Hanabi as it is." A few more seconds and a few more muttered curses followed before Hiashi, having vented his frustrations in the privacy of his office, turned back to his desk and began the truly impossible task: finishing the paperwork that comes with all positions of power.

* * *

Outside the Hyuuga complex, Team 8 was discussing where to head next. Anko headed off the discussion, urging, "Come on, we need to get back to training! We've already lost a full day!" She had the perfect idea for a training activity, too...

"I still need to find the partners for my other four eggs," Naruto protested.

"We don't even know where to look," Ino pointed out as the group meandered through the village.

"Maybe there's a pattern to who gets an egg," Hinata suggested.

"Well," Kurenai decided, "let's go get some lunch, and we can think about what type of pattern there might be while we eat." With that said, the group headed towards the nearest worthwhile restaurant, in this case, a new barbecue place that had just recently opened. After everyone had ordered, Kurenai started the discussion. "So, what do we know about the recipients so far?"

"Tenten, Hanabi, and I were chosen, while you four, Hikari, Hokage-sama, and the rest of Team Gai didn't get one," Anko started, listing what little concrete facts they had.

"So what do you have in common that we don't have?" Ino asked.

"All three are young," Kurenai replied. "Hokage-sama might be too old for a cabbit to join with him. Also, all of the cabbits have chosen girls so far, so that might be important."

Hinata thought for a moment and added, "It doesn't involve blood, as far as I can tell. Hanabi is the only one with an advanced bloodline, and Tenten has a different blood type than my sister does."

"It can't be social status," Ino added thoughtfully. "Hanabi is the daughter of the head of a major clan, while Anko and Tenten are of minor clans, as best as we can tell."

"Maybe a different kind of social status is involved?" Naruto suggested.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked. "Is it that they're all training to be kunoichi?"

"How many friends does Hanabi have?" Naruto asked before continuing with his idea, "We know that Anko only has a few friends who see her for who she really is, and Tenten spends all of her time training, so the cabbits might be drawn to people who need friends."

"Hanabi doesn't get to leave the Hyuuga complex that often," Hinata admitted sadly, "So she doesn't have any friends that I know of." After another moment of thought, she asked, "But Naruto, if the cabbits are choosing people who need friends as their partners, why didn't one choose you?"  
Naruto smiled his typical smile and replied, "Why, Hinata, I already have the biggest and most powerful cabbit of all."

* * *

Well, there you have three eggs down, and four more to go. Please note that any individual who has come into close contact with the eggs is off the potential list. Also note that Team Gai being in close contact is a matter of interpretation. That said, feel free to keep guessing, suggesting, and/or 'voting' on who the recipients should be. The first person to guess all of the remaining people (and ONLY the remaining people) will get public recognition. Those I have specifically told are excluded from gaining recognition. Good luck to you all. 


End file.
